Bloody Pawprints
by iNFAMOUS X
Summary: Every dream has a beginning.. Before the dream to become Hokage ever forms something will happen that will change the story forever. pairing inside
1. Acknowledgement

**Bloody Pawprints.**

Summary: ( "Every dream has a beginning.." Before the dream to be Hokage ever forms something will happen that will change the story forever. pairing: Naru(it's a secret)

Key: 0000000000000: separates times places events etc..

**Bold: **things of unusual importance, Kyuubi talking etc.

_Italics: _thoughts

CAPS: shouting

Oh yeah again b4 I 4get.. I still don't care about grammar.. I wont intentionally make it bad but if it's understandable then I'mma let it flow.. So that much hasn't changed.. If you complain abt that plz check my explanation on grammar in DBFS.

Chapter 1: (Acknowledgment)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime or games I'm takin this shit from.

In the Ninja World the major powers are divided among 5 main countries.

The Fire Country with the Hidden Leaf.

The Lightning Country with the Hidden Cloud

The Water Country with Hidden Mist

The Earth Country with hidden Stone

and the Wind Country with Hidden Sand.

Once there was a great 9 tailed Fox demon that terrorized the Fire Country.

Eventually it came upon Kohona, the Hidden Leaf. The Shinobi from Kohona were no match for the sheer might of the great beast. With it's great tails it could cause landslides and tidal waves at will.

The battle to drive it away from the village was very costly and many brave shinobi met their end facing the beast. Eventually a shinobi far more powerful than the rest appeared. This shinobi used an advanced sealing technique that even the Fox demon could not escape. Giving his life force to the Shinigami to forever battle with the Physical essence of the Fox until the end of time in the next dimension.

The one to finally defeat the evil Fox demon was none other than the Yondaime Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.

But.. The story does not end here.. The sealing method he used requires a vessel to seal the Fox demon in.. And being the noble man he was, rather than asking it of someone else, the Yondaime chose his own son hoping that with his bloodline ability to absorb all types of chakra he would be able to contain the beast.

His final dying words were to the Sandaime Hokage.. "Please.. I wish my son to be remembered in Kohona as a hero.. For he bares the greatest burden and sacrifice by far.."

Sadly his request...

Would not be met.

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"YOU FAIL!"

Naruto blinked in confusion. His eye twitched oddly. "Y-you're kidding right.. This is some kinda joke.."

Senbou looked at Iruka with a calm gaze. "Iruka.. Perhaps we should re-consider.. After all he did manage to summon his chakra and though he missed the majority of the kunai targets he did score a passing grade on the reflex exam.

Iruka merely waved him off. "With all do respect Senbou, the test requires you to hit at least 4 targets. Naruto barely hit one.. While he did generate chakra it was a pathetic amount.. Even some first year students can generate more than that ..

And finally Naruto was able to dodge the balls from only 30 feet away.. That may be "passing" in the classroom, but if I sent him out as a genin, even the simplest C class mission would be a deathtrap.

But.. More importantly.. If he'd spend as much time on his studies as he did on his incessant pranks he'd be a straight A student!" "He has no one to blame but himself!"

At this the rest of the class erupted in laughter. Naruto glared at Iruka.

Senbou nodded in irritation. "Yes but.." He leaned in and whispered the next part. "If you fail him we'll have to deal with him all next year.. I can't stand another year of having to look at that demon's face."

Iruka gave Senbou a warning glare. "You know we are not to speak of that Senbou.. One more outburst I will have to report you to the Hokage.

He then came out of the huddle and looked at Naruto's hopeful face. Iruka closed his eyes and dismissively waved his hands. "I'm sorry Uzumaki Naruto but you have not graduated.. Report to the start of the next school year for remedial training.. Next.. Roga Ardoma.."

Naruto walked slowly back to his seat his head hung in shame. This was beyond embarrassing. He was so certain that if he could just graduate and become a ninja then things would change.. Then.. Someone.. Would have to acknowledge him.

Then he had to go and fail. He didn't hear anything else, tuning out the lecture and other exams. When all was said and done only 1 forehead protector remained on the table. Naruto sat slumped in his chair as the other students filed out happily.

Iruka packed away the other items and saw that Naruto was sitting up there by himself. He told himself to go over and talk to the boy. His hatred of the fox surfacing yet again. He sighed.

_Next year... next year I'll get to know him.._

With that Iruka walked out and told Naruto to get up he needed to lock the door. Naruto slowly complied stomping out with a scowl on his face. Iruka bowed stiffly and wished him a good summer.

"Yeah yeah.." he muttered letting Iruka brush past him as he was walking extra slow.

As soon as Iruka's back was safely turned the boys lips curved upward. He lifted his middle fingers up and murmured "Up yours Iruka-sensei" Then he dropped his head and walked out into the sunlight.

Naruto walked over to a tree and slumped against it. He could hear the murmurs.. The whispers.. He knew what they were saying.

"Thank goodness they didn't let **him **become a ninja.." "Look it's him, look at him sitting there that smug demon.. Bastard killed my brother.."

"Why doesn't he just take a hint and disappear..loser.."

Unable to take anymore Naruto rose to his feet and walked away the murmurs fading into background noise before completely tapering off.

Eventually he came across a park. The kids there were his own age. He smiled lightly and strolled forward as he came across a young boy sitting on a dock staring into space. Naruto went to the edge of the rocky ledge and called out to him. "Oiy, you wanna play with me?" The raven haired boy turned to look at the blonde smiling hopefully. His cold demeanor never changed.

"No."

Naruto's soft chuckling died off halfway through. "Eh.. O-ok. Well you need to get the stick out of your ass!"

The boy simply turned around and stared off into space. "Don't you have some sandbox to play in?"

Naruto ignored the obvious insult to his maturity. He huffed and walked off closing his eyes. As he turned he opened his left eye and slid it back to look at the cold boy out of the corner.

He sighed.

They had a fight like this every time he visited. Naruto never really understood him but the boy didn't seem to really like anyone. He walked toward the park and as if on cue the parents of all the kids decided it was "time to go."

He dropped his head as he sat down in a swing. The park was now deserted as the kids had all left with their parents. Naruto slowly pushed himself off with his feet. He slowly rocked back and forth in the swing as the only sound heard was the creaking of the metal chains.

Suddenly he heard a voice. He turned his head in surprise and found himself face to face with another set of blue eyes. Naruto slipped into his immediate fake smile mode.

The set of eyes blinked as they were revealed to belong a girl about Naruto's age.

"Hi my names Ino.. What's yours?"

Naruto widened his smile. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Ino tilted her head to the side. "Nice to meet you Naruto."

She hopped in a swing next to him. "So are you a villager or a shinobi.. Cause I haven't ever seen you in any of my classes.." Naruto nodded. "Yeah I started the academy when I was 5... so I'm on my 4th year.." Ino widened her eyes. "Really.. oh then you're a genin?"

Naruto dropped his head. "No.. I failed."

Ino gasped and burst out laughing. "Wow.. You must suck."

Naruto let his head drop.

Suddenly a voice called out "Ino.. INO!"a man came out of nowhere with a good natured smile on his face.

As soon as he saw Naruto it twisted into a snarl. "What are you doing with my daughter demon!"

Inoshi was enraged. Damn the 3rds law.. That demon was here alone with his daughter planning to do who knows what.

"Ino get away from him.."

Ino stopped laughing and turned around. "But daddy" she began but was quickly cut off. "NOW!"

She widened her eye and nodded as she slid off the swing and was quickly positioned behind her father.

Naruto looked up in surprise at the furious man. He got off the swing slowly and was about to walk away when the venomous voice called out. "No.. I don't think so demon! If you ever come near my daughter again.."

He blurred through the air. Appearing in front of him and kneed him in the gut breaking his ribs.

Naruto cried out in pain. "I will kill you."

He backhanded him into the sand box and he landed crushing a sand castle. Inoshi quickly took his wide eyed daughter and headed back home.

Naruto on the other hand suddenly began to feel strange. His vision went from completely black to a lighter shade of black.

He also went from laying down to standing up, and the ground.. Was damp..

He took a step forward and then another cautiously observing his surroundings. Suddenly in front of him he saw as th darkness faded more and gave way to a shape of a... gate?

Brilliant gold shooting up high into the black shadows. Slowly as he neared the gate he saw that it was attached to a large cage.

A set of slit crimson eyes slowly opened glowing with a terrible aura.

"**Who dares intrude upon my sanctum." **

Naruto gulped. "W-who are you.. Where am I?"

"**Is it.. The vessel.. So you have come at last**..** Intriguing."**

Naruto blinked in confusion. "So who are you and where am I?"

A loud rumbling laughter was heard from the deep echoing voice.

"**Who I am..." **A shifting was heard. A rumbling step then another then as more of the massive form came into the light the beast grinned barring it's razor sharp teeth.

"**Where we are.. This is the inside of your body.. The seal on your stomach to be exact.." **

Naruto placed a hand behind his head and scratched. "So.. Who are you then?" the massive beast widened an eye while the other began to twitch spasmodically.

"**Imputent Mortal... are** **you implying that you've never heard of my greatness!"**

Naruto squinted his eyes and muttered. "I'm not implying anything.."

The great Fox roared.

"**I am the legendary Kyuubi no Kitsune, 9 tailed Demon Fox** **and greatest among the tailed beasts!" **

Naruto's eyes went wide. "But I thought you were killed by the Yondaime!"

Kyuubi widened it's eyes. **"What.. That's what the other mortals told you.."**

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Um.. What do you mean.. You're really not dead?"

Kyuubi looked at him and narrowed it's slit eyes. **"Yes I'm dead! That's why I'm sitting here right in front of you talking, of course I'm NOT DEAD!" "No mortal could vanquish the great Kyuubi.. My power is known even in the demon realm!"**

Naruto blinked in confusion. Then.. Why are you here.. I thought you came here to destroy the village.."

Kyuubi tilted it's massive head to the side. **"You honestly don't know.."**

Amused, it lightly opened a set of razor sharp teeth. **"Well then.. I'll tell you all about your great leader and his so called 'victory' over me."**

"**I had come to the village to find the one who attempted to summon me.. When I discovered that the shinobi here were hostile my bloodlust got the better of me.. This made me careless.."**

"**The so called 'defeat'** **was nothing more than a sealing technique.."**

"**And do you know what he used as a container to seal me in..."**

Naruto's eyes widened in realization. "N-no.. why.. why would he do that to me WHY!"

Kyuubi laughed, roaring in it's deep rumbling voice. **"Why? That's simple.. Because he was too weak to defeat me.. So he compromised and locked me up inside this infernal cage inside the seal on your stomach..**"

Naruto fell to a sitting position. "It.. It all makes sense now.. Why they always call me a demon.. How many other people knew about this!"

Kyuubi snorted. **"How should I know.. Most likely everyone there since it was the only way they're still alive."**

Naruto couldn't accept this. If it was true.. Then he'd never have anyone acknowledge him..

Kyuubi growled and began to turn to go back into the recesses of it's cage. .

Naruto saw this and suddenly he cried out. "Hey wait!" Kyuubi stopped.

"**What."**

"If you're locked up inside of me then.. You'll always be here right.."

The Kyuubi didn't answer. It simply walked back into the darkened corners to plot it's horrible revenge.

Naruto smiled. "Ok well how do I get back to my normal body?"

"**The tunnel you came in through.. Now begone, the presence of a mortal in my domain sickens me!" **

Naruto didn't need a second warning. He bolted for the tunnel which he'd come through and sure enough when he hit the end he was suddenly engulfed in a bright light. As it faded he saw darkness.

Slowly opening his eyes he found he was still laying in that sandbox. It had begun to rain now. He slowly sat up and climbed to his feet as the wet sand dropped from his hair. The soft patter of the raindrops tapping the ground was heard all around him as he made his way home.

He had a lot to think about. He know knew that the Yondaime wasn't the big hero everyone thought him to be. In reality he was just a big fake. And Naruto was the one who had to pay the price.

He walked up the stairs to his apartment and pushed the door open expecting to find it ransacked. He was not disappointed. Hate messages were etched all along his walls. Tables overturned.

His bed was smashed and sitting crooked now, all his Ramen supply was out as they'd ripped everything out of his drawers and cabinets. Once again the other clothes he had were gone.

And they wondered why he always wore orange.. It was the only outfit he could keep around long enough wear and the only color they wouldn't take.

With a mind full of questions and regrets he climbed into his crooked bd and fell asleep.

In the morning he saw Ino with some of her friends. She looked like she wanted to come over and talk to him but her friends warned her about the strict rule of her father never to talk to the boy again. If she did she'd be grounded for the entire summer. If she was **seen** talking to him, the year.

Naruto dropped his smile and walked silently to the Hokage tower. When he got there the guards snorted at him. "What do you want!"

Naruto simply said he needed to speak with the Hokage. The guards narrowed their eyes. "He's busy now beat it kid.. Or we'll escort you out!" Naruto sighed and was about to turn when above on the balcony a voice caled out. "Nonsense.. I have time for any of my villagers so long as they work it into the schedule.. Come on up Naruto I'll be with you in just a minute." Naruto looked up and nodded.

Brushing past the two infuriated guards he heard the mutters. "-can he let that.. demon in his office, the old man's going senile.." Naruto walked in through the doors and came to the large set of stairs. He walked up higher and higher. To the 9 year old they seemed to go on forever until finally.. He reached the waiting room.

The secretary looked at him indifferently. "The Hokage will be with you in just a moment." Naruto shrugged and sat down against the wall on the polished wooden floor. Closing his eyes he began to drift off and he focused on the same feelign as before.

He was surprised when he actually ended up in the damp dark tunnel again. Slowly he curiously walked forward. And once again he saw the massive cage.

_So it wasn't a dream.._ Thought Naruto.

He crept closer to the cage and peeked around what he thought was a corner.

"K-Kyuubi.. You here?"

A rumbling from the cage was his response. Naruto kicked his foot against the ground scuffing it along. "Um... so.. I was wondering.. what's it like in here?"

Kyuubi came to the front of the cage and looked at Naruto with a strange expression.

Naruto blinked a few times. "What?"

"**I want to eat you." **The Kyuubi said simply.

Well Naruto did exactly what any other 9 year old would do when told that a 40 foot tall fox wanted to eat him. He bolted for the exit to the tunnel and jumped out the end.

In the background the Kyuubi gave a menacing smile at the retreating figure.

"**Amusing.." **with that it turned around and retreated into the shadows of it's cage.

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Naruto came out of the sleep with a jolt. It appeared as though he'd woken up from a nightmare to the outside eye. In a way he had. A few seconds later the Sandaime Hokage came out and nodded at Naruto.

They walked in and he asked Naruto what he wanted. Naruto explained that his house had again been ransacked. Sandaime sighed. "I see.. I'll have this investigated.. And you'll need to make a list of items that need repairing." Naruto nodded and left the office of the Hokage.

Sarutobi sighed. _I'm sorry Yandaime-sama_.. _Your wish doesn't look like it's going to happen.._

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The next day Naruto went inside the seal during the morning while he slept overtime. The Kyuubi chased him out again. Later that night he tried again and again he was forced out, this time from a doton jutsu.

The next morning he tried and came out singed from a fire jutsu basting through the bars.

This continued for a week and slowly it almost became a kind of game for Naruto. Strangely enough for the Kyuubi as well. A sadistic game.. But a game nonetheless.

Until one day Naruto walked in expecting to be chased out by a suiton flood or something. Instead he saw th Kyuubi laying down at the front of it's cage. Naruto walked closer than he'd ever been before. "So you aren't going to try to kill me this time?"

the Kyuubi looked at him lazily. **"I'm bored."**

Naruto grinned. "Well that's good cause I can tell you all about this new jutsu I'm creating."

The Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. (if it has any)

After Naruto's explanation of his jutsu the mighty fox simply stared at the grinning boy. "**Are you serious.. Even for a mortal.. That technique is absurd!" **

Naruto shook his head. "Meh.. What do you mean! This technique is awsome!" Kyuubi twitched it's ears. **"You are a LOUD brat aren't you.." **

Naruto grinned. "You should try it.. It's fun to just let go and say whatever." The Kyuubi chuckled. **"Indeed.. Though when I did it, it was a bit more.. Threatening." **

Naruto squinted his eyes. "Oiy, you don't scare me!"

Kyuubi narrowed it's eyes and let off a evil grin **"Well, it seems I'm no longer bored."**

Kyuubi's eyes lit a bright red and a set of vines and plants shot in to wrap around Naruto. He jumped over a set and bolted for the door grinning widely. "Oiy, I'll come see you tomorrow ok Kyuubi-san!" with that he disappeared.

"**Strange... he is.. not like the other mortals.." **Kyuubi turned and walked back into it's shadowy recesses.

The ninja summer is 4 months

That summer Naruto was picked on, beat up, stolen from, and belittled as always. But one thing was different.

He had a happy place. If he learned something new or made a cool new jutsu he would show it to the Kyuubi. Whenever something happened and he needed to cry it out he'd go into his seal and talk to the Kyuubi. Sometimes the fox made fun of him. Sometimes it laughed, genuinely amused. Sometimes it looked angry.

The container was weak, this made the contained look weak. Sometimes Kyuubi would simply remain silent. No matter the reaction though the great fox always listened to him. Never once did Naruto hear I'm too busy or I don't care.

In fact the Kyuubi actually seemed to care. Sometimes the Kyuubi would actually talk to Naruto. If it had a question about mortals it would ask Naruto and the boy would do his best to answer. Sometimes Kyuubi would reminisce about the past and it's former glories. Though it would never admit it.. The fox actually came to look forward to the boy's visits more and more till it was almost as much as Naruto did.

A few times Ino and her friend Sakura would be out and they'd see him. Ino alwys tried to walk over to say hello but her friend would warn her about her dad's wrath so she never got a chance to do anything.

He told Kyuubi about this and the fox snorted. **"The brat sounds stuck up to me.."**

Naruto sighed. "Yeah I guess.. Oh well at least I have one person who acknowledges me."

"**Oh.. Who would that be?" **Naruto grinned.

Naruto and Kyuubi spent a very big part of the summer hanging out in the seal. Finally the day before he was to go back to school Naruto came to visit Kyuubi and found it sitting down staring into space.

Naruto walked in and greeted it loudly. The fox seemed to snap out of a trance and it sighed.

"**Hello Naruto."**

Naruto looked at the great form of the Kyuubi sitting like a dog. "What's with you?"

Kyuubi smiled. **"Have I ever told you about the minor powers?" **

Naruto blinked. "Uh.. No what are they?"

Kyuubi loked off to the side. **"The 5 main shinobi countries are the major powers, but the minor powers are the other smaller countries...there was a place I had wanted to go for quite awhile it was the original reason I came to this world from the demon realm.."**

"**I'd found it centuries ago but I never got around to going there.. Getting side tracked for a few thousand years... then the battle with Hachibi forced us both into hibernation to regain strength.** "

"**That's when the foolish mortals of your village tried to summon me a thousand years later."**

Naruto nodded. "So what's so special about this minor power continent?"

"**It's** **a very special place to me..."**

Naruto realized at this point he shouldn't pry any further.

Kyuubi lifted it's head sighing. **"But, there's no use dreaming about the past or what can never be.. I'm in this seal until you die and then my very essence will be destroyed."**

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Yondaime.." he growled.

Naruto turned around and said muttered something before punching his hand in finality.

"**What?" **Kyuubi wasn't paying attention and didn't catch what he said.

Naruto turned around with a smile on his face. "Ne, I have to get ready for the academy tomorrow Kyuubi-san, it was nice talking with you .."

With that he bounded down the hall and out into the bright light. He got up off the flor and shook his head a little to clear it.

His eyes however.. were focused and determined, Uzumaki Naruto had a goal.. He didn't have the foggiest clue how to get there but he knew where he wanted to be.

He walked over to his bed got his pajamas put his cap on and slipped in falling asleep. The next day his second chance at becoming a ninja would start.

And this time it would be different.

Note: and so begins "Bloody Pawprints". Ok this is a lil different from dbfs b/c it's not as crazy. The characters will remain in Naruto universe type stuff. There will be some DBZ and YYH but nothing like dbfs..

They won't shoot energy blasts or slam each other into craters from 100 feet into the air or anything. But.. It's me so Naruto will be super powered. This chapter doesn't really foreshadow much of where the story is going but I came up with some really good ideas that are almost believable if they happened in the way I want them to.

Anyway look for more to come from this story cause I got abt 10 of the chapters mapped out and outlined already.. Plus I still know exactly what I want to do with dbfs (with the exception of how to make him go back..)


	2. When Something is Precious

Chapter 2: (When Something is Precious..)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime or games I'm takin this shit from.

Um for reviews.. I already talked with onikami no shinobi so I don't se any other real questions for review answers. Thx for all reviews they are all read and appreciated. gla yall like it.. so far so good no flamers yet..

And now on with the story.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes shaking the sleep dust from his eyes. He yawned and took his cap off letting it fall to the floor as he took a glance at the clock.

Suddenly his eyes widened. "Oh shit.. I'm going to be late!"

Naruto jumped out of bed and yanked on his black shirt before hopping on one leg to get his goggles while putting his orange pants on. He then grabbed his jacket and a cup of instant ramen. It was room temperature but.. Well there was no time to cook.

He didn't bother with the door simply jumping out the window.

This proved to be a very bad idea.

If not for a trailer with fruit being sold off of it he would have broken quite few bones. But instead he landed on a set of fresh melons. The vender turned around from another successful sale to get the desired fruit and found it was smashed and busted.

"N-NANI!"

Naruto slowly got up and shook some of the juice from his hair. "Uh.. Sorry old man gotta go!" and with that he leaped out of the fruit trailer and bounced off onto a smaller roof and began roof hopping.

The vender narrowed his eyes in disgust. "Damn.. That little demon brat.."

Naruto roof hopped until he was on one low enough to jump from. From this point he sprinted to the academy. He didn't wanna be late on his first day. He jumped over the gate entrance to the school and past the monitor station.

The receptionist ignored him. It wouldn't bother her one time if the demon never showed up at all.

Naruto blasted up the stairs then down the hall until he finally saw the opening of the room. He arrived and squinted his eyes.

It was too late.

He was late on his first day.

Slowly he opened the door as Iruka and the other teacher were writing their names on the board. Slowly he crept in as silently as a shinobi had ever been.

He slipped into a seat near the back where he might go unnoticed. As soon as he was set up and unpacked with his bag sitting ready besides his desk and a pencil lawing ready Iruka changed his tone of voice, never once turning around. "And as we've said before.. A ninja must always be dependable.. If they do not practice coming on time diligently then they will gain the reputation of an undependable ninja.."

"As I'm sure we can all thank Mr. Uzumaki here for demonstrating.. Let's give him a round of applause."

At this the class erupted in snickers and fits of laughter. Naruto sunk back into his seat. He glared at Iruka. The said instructor merely smiled. Next to him Naruto noticed was a girl. She appeared to be in her late twenties. She wore a chuunin vest as Iruka did.

On the board he noticed next to Iruka was the name Namuro Kiko. Naruto silently noted that Senbou was not there. _So they transferred him huh.._

Iruka stood up tall and proud. "All right now we've been through the intoductions and beginning orientation so lets get to work. Every one take out the dynamics of ninja weaponry and turn to the introductory paragraph.. You there misterrr.." the boy emotionlessly replied "Neji, Hyuuga Neji."

Iruka smiled. "Ahh yes, well Neji please start the introductory paragraph." without another remark the boy took out his book and began to drawl out in a monotone voice.

Naruto sat in the back trying to follow along but he soon found his interest waning.

_Aww not this stuff again.. Honestly, this is such a waste of time! I don't wanna learn about theoretical ways a kunai can be thrown under stupid conditions that'll never happen! This is soo boring!_

Naruto's eyelids began to droop. Then his head slowly started it's descent.

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Naruto found himself in his tunnel once again. He jogged to the end and walked closer to the large gate.

"**Naruto, how was your first day?"**

The young boy sighed. "It's soo boring I just got to class and already I can't stay awake... so I thought I'd come visit you.

The massive fox rumbled a chuckle. **"What happened to I'll graduate this time for sure?"**

Naruto closed his eyes and frowned. "Well I will.. But the classes are so boring.. I'm not learning anything useful.. Hey could you teach me some stuff?"

Kyuubi closed it's eyes and began to laugh. It's loud rumbling roars echoed across the seal. Naruto narrowed his eyes and frowned. "Hey.. It wasn't a joke.." finally ceasing the laughter the mighty fox lowered it's head so it was almost level with the young boy and it spoke.

"**My jutsu's require stamina, speed, strength and chakra amounts like you can't conceive.. If you ever do reach a level where I can work with you then I may be willing to help you out. But until then you're going to have to learn the basics of your mortal jutsu's.**"

Naruto frowned and turned around. "Well then.. I guess I'll have to get back and listen to Iruka-sensei's boring lessons some more.." He sighed and walked off towards the exit.

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Naruto had already spent many weeks at the academy and he did not excel like he hoped he would. The curriculum had changed from last year. It was.. Harder. The Hokage had apparently asked for more trained genin and thus, the quizzes were all at least 50 questions, the tests were at least 100. A few lunchtime's Naruto would walk by and see the other classes eating. He never approached any of them though, regardless of them being the same age.

It was stupid to put him in school early. He secretly thought he did it to try to keep him out of trouble to get him out of the Hokage's hair. He just wasn't smart enough to be at this level this young..

One day the classes were combined due to a shortage of teachers. Some had gone on vacation and the curriculum matched up so..

The years 2, 3, and 4 were all combined in a few of their classes. Naruto as usual was sitting by himself in the back row. The girl from before suddenly popped down next to him. A few murmurs and narrowed eyes held the same sentiment.

"Ino what are you doing.."

She just shrugged. "Just chill out.. There's no other seats left anyway.. Besides sitting here outs me closer to Sasuke."

Indeed the young Uchiha that Naruto had seen before was sitting just to his left. Ino and her friend Sakura were in a death match over him when a new ninja came in. Naruto blinked in surprise.

_A...substitute.. For a mixed class.._

The ninja raised an eyebrow. "Interesting.. A mixed class.. Anyway, The curriculum you have for me to teach is... how shall I say... rather bland in my opinion."

He smirked. "Ok class.. Today we're going to review a very high level technique.. Even as Chuunin, Kiko and Iruka are nowhere near able to preform this advanced skill. It's a Jounin technique, though even I can only barely preform the basics of it." "But.. We're going to review the rudimentary basics of what it is as a section in itself.

This is called Kuchiyose no jutsu.. The summoning technique."

The class instantly stopped chattering and turned around to pay attention.

_Finally, something cool and useful.. _Naruto thought

He took out his pen and began to copy notes .

The substitute continued. "The summoning technique is basically a high level technique that brings a set animal that the user signed a contract with from a temporal space dimension."

"It calls forth mystical creatures from a different plane of existence and releases them into this world to be used for tracking or.. Fighting.."

Naruto widened his eyes. _Summoning.. Could it be.._

The substitute turned around and wrote a set of names on the board. 'These are the mythical animals that users are able to summon.. There are lower levels but these are the main branches."

Naruto stood up suddenly. "Hey, hey, Sensei!" The teacher turned and saw that it was Naruto. He frankly didn't care about the Kyuubi no kitsune..

He'd been on a mission when the beast had attacked.. And he hadn't lost any friends or relatives so the fact that Naruto was the beast's container didn't really matter to him.

"What is it mister.. Uzumaki.."

Naruto slammed his hand down on the desk. "This summoning thing.. How big and cool can the animals get?" the Substitue sighed. _Why did I know that was coming.. Sheesh.. Kids these days are so predictable.._"

Alright.. Listen up summoned creatures size and power depend upon the level of perfection you preform the technique to and the amount of chakra you use to summon them.. So in theory the only limit to the size and 'coolness' of a summoned animal is the type you have a contract with, and the amount of chakra you generate to summon it."

"Although to even summon a small animal the size of a softball requires Jounin level chakra. To summon one the size of a dog it requires elite Jounin and so on.. So it's not realistic to get very big with it.."

Naruto nodded excitedly. "But.. It's possible right!"

"Like I could summon a million foot long turtle and teach it to eat pizza and then it'd be like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turt-" "Yes, mister Uzumaki.. I suppose if you had the chakra of an entire continent's worth of ninja you could summon the ninja turtles and their little rat sensei too.. Though you don't and I'm fairly sure you won't have the chakra of an entire continent's worth of ninja so it's really a rather moot point.."

Naruto sat back down as he realized he'd made a fool of himself in front of 3 years worth of students. But.. He'd finally found something to go on. Uzumaki Naruto never backed down on his word.. And he'd made a promise.. An oath that he intended to keep if it was the last thing he ever did.. And now he just may have found a way to do it.."

"Anyway.. The Substitute continued. "The summoning technique is preformed by using both seals and a contract with the animal of your choosing... this is what separates it from normal jutsus that simply require seals and chakra."

Naruto listened very carefully and wrote down as much as he could. He was given a set of animals that it was possible to summon, he would have a quiz on them tomorrow. He studied extensively and was ready to get an A the next day. However.. Elsewhere that night.

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"YOU TAUGHT THEM ABOUT WHAT!"

The Jounin sighed. "The stuff you had for me was ridiculous... it'd never have grabbed their attention.." Iruka was shaking with rage. They are academy students.. They arent even genin!" he growled out. "Do you knwo what will happen if any of them try to do a jutsu like that.." the Jounin shook his head. "Relax.. I didn't teach them any seals or anything.. Just what it was and the list of animals that are summonable. " Iruka rubbed his temples. "You're off.. Thank you for filling in but I got it from here."

The Jounin just shrugged. "Whatever.. Good luck keepin their attention with your lame situational tactics.."

Iruka sighed. "Yeah, thanks Hizo.."

The black haired man simply smirked. As we walked off.

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Naruto actually arrived at the academy on time that morning. But when he got there he found Iruka. The mixed classes had returned to normal. "I understand you all learned about a very advanced jutsu yesterday.."

"Well I didn't sanction the mentioning of a jutsu like that so we'll be returning to the original lesson plan." A chorus of Aww's were heard at this but Iruka ignored them. But Naruto wasn't about to let it go. "Oiy, wait.. What's so bad about learning stuff that actually matters..I mean that's what makes a strong ninja right?"

Iruka sighed. But Naruto cut him off. "I want to learn as many cool jutsu's as possible.." Iruka closed his eyes and closed his lesson plan bok. "Class.. Do you know what makes the ninja of the hidden leaf unique?"

"Most villages think that to learn new jutsu's or to master certain styles makes strength.. But what we realize here is that to become truly strong.. You must fight to protect something that is precious to you with all your heart."

Iruka opened his eyes. "Because.. When something is precious.. Truly precious, and you would fight to defend it with all of your being.. Then you can gain the strength you need to defend them." "Like the Yondaime did for all of us.."

He smiled. "But I'm sure you all understand this.." "Kumo is there someone you hold precious to you?" The young boy smiled. "Yeah.. My parents.." Another girl raised her arms "my brother!" more and more raised their hands. My mom, my cousin, my best friend shali, my doggie"

Iruka smiled closing his eyes. "You see, if you care for this person with all of your being.. Then you can become strong enough that when the time comes when they need protection.. You'll be able to use that strength to save them..." "And that.. is how Kohona ninjas become strong."

Kiko nodded. "Well said Iruka."

Naruto bolted up. "I-I have someone that I consider precious..." Iruka looked at the young boy. "Really.. And you'd do anything for this person?" Naruto nodded. "It's uh.." he stopped a few seconds. "It's.. the guy who serves me noodles at the Ichiraku Ramen Noodles shop!"

Iruka raised an eyebrow. Then he shook his head a vein bulging as Naruto burst out laughing along with his classmates.

Iruka grit his teeth. "Naruto this is serious.. This is the truth behind our very existence as Leaf ninja.. Even the Hokage gains his strength from the desire to protects us all.. All of the villagers.. That's what makes him a great leader.. The selfless sacrifice to protect those most precious to you when they include everyone in the village.. like.. like the Yondaime.."

Naruto looked down slumping back into his seat. "Never forget that children.. The true path to strength lies in the bonds we make with the people we hold most dear.."

Naruto meditated on those words turning them over and over in his head. He ignored the lesson and that suited Iruka fine.. After all he'd had enough of the blonde's mouth today.

As the students filed out Naruto sprinted back home. He couldn't wait to go into his seal.

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"..And that's what we talked about today." Kyuubi tilted it's head to the side. "**Precious... and you have someone like that.." **

Naruto looked up at the massive fox with determination shining in his cerulean orbs. "Yeah I definitely do.. And I will become stronger than you.. So that when the time comes.. I'll be able to protect you from anything, even another seal like that bastard used on me.. Because.. You.." Naruto finally broke down.

Crystal tears flowed down his cheeks in streaming rivers.

"Because you.. Are my friend.. My only friend.."

Kyuubi's eyes went wide.. Slowly a small smile tugged at it's lips revealing the gleaming white teeth. The gigantic pointed ears drooped down as it's head dropped staring at the floor of it's cage. **"I.. Have never held anything truly precious before..." **

It raised it with a sincere look in it's eyes. **"But..you have become.. Very.. important to me.. Naruto.."**

"**I will protect you.. My.. Friend.."**

Naruto didn't get up off the floor of his living room (which was more or less every other room as well.) He fell asleep inside the seal. Naruto had found a way to surpass the gates from the outside and to enter the cage. He cuddled up against the soft fur of the mighty fox as it softly laid it's tails across him in a blanket of warmth. Naruto smiled and said "Y'no you have really soft fur.. I like it." then he drifted off to sleep.

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The academy went by quickly. And sadly with Naruto passing only a few of the courses.

He was much more focused on learning all he could about summoning from anyone he could find. The technique was cool and it interested him in it's type of combat. He even talked to a boy named Inuzuka Kiba.

This boy had a dog that he could preform jutsu with. Naruto learned about shinobi animal interaction from him and his sister Hana.

He went to library after library. He personally went to see the Hokage about information on summoning.

The Sadaime didn't think much of it when Naruto mentioned summoning a million foot long Ardvark with tentacles mutating out his eyes.

And if kept him out of trouble...

Though he still played pranks every now and then. He happily allowed Naruto to use copies of the basic Jounin level scrolls to study, knowing full well that Naruto couldn't understand a single word.

But.. Sandaime did not take into account one thing.

Naruto's determination. though.. strangely enough he'd never mentioned his summoning research to Kyuubi.. not even once.

Usually Naruto would skip is academy classes to do pranks or try to get attention. But now.. It was all spent on learning all he could about summoning and sealing. And so the year passed on with Naruto making average scores with the exception of the midterm.

Since he had spent nearly all of his time and energy on learning summoning and the classes were even harder than last year..

He barely passed. At the rate he was going he'd just barely make Genin by the time graduation came around again. But now was a terrible day for him.

It was the day of the Kyuubi's sealing and not one person had ever wished him a happy birthday..

As a matter of fact they were meaner to him than usual because the day also coincided with the sealing of the 9 tailed fox.

He was a painful reminder of the small failure of the defeat.. The last peice to be destroyed to fully resolve the matter and yet they were forbidden to do so..

But even more so the cost that the even partial victory had cost.. The life of one of the greatest and most beloved hero's Kohona had ever known.

The Yondaime Hokage.

However before Naruto woke up he found himself drug into the recesses of his seal. "Huh.." he said in confusion. There, standing in front of him was the mighty kitsune smirking. **"If I'm not mistaken** **today is your birthday right Naruto?" **

The young blonde looked down at the floor. "Unfortunately yes.."

Kyuubi smirked. "**Well, I have a present for you... err.. Kind of.**"

Naruto blinked in surprise. "No one had ever gotten him anything for his birthday.. But what could a demon fox behind a cage possibly give him...

Kyuubi smiled wider. **"You see these humans celebrate this day while I partially loathe it, but at the same time.. I celebrate it as well.. For without it I would never have met you.." **

Naruto chuckled and looked at the ground embarrassed.

"**However, I spend these days of commemoration, reviewing the batle we had and I think I've found something actually useful in it.. Now you see as a 9 tailed demon fox** **my knowledge and cunning is unrivaled, but my memory is also unrivaled and my perception and understanding of chakra is.."**

Naruto interrupted. "Hmmm.. Lemme guess, unrivaled"

Kyuubi chuckled. **"Exactly.. After reviewing our battle thoroughly I have found that there were several jutsu's that the Yondaime of this village preformed several times.. One of these was a speed technique that I analyzed and broke down to where I understand it." **

"**Now, this technique is too advanced for you at your current state.. But the other.. It was a ball of swirling chakra that had great destructive power.. It was quite possible the most devastating attack I have ever seen a human wield.. And best of all it does not require hand seals to preform, allowing you to practice everywhere you go including here.. And you can begin learning to use it even now." **

Naruto blinked in confusion. "So you're telling me you are actually going to teach me a jutsu you saw the Yondaime use!"

Kyuubi smirked. **"Yes.. At the current level you are at I want you to have a trump card.. This si the perfect technique for you because you can practice everywhere and anywhere.. With the right kind of work you can have the technique mastered to even his level in 3 years.. And if you use my chakra..."**

Naruto smiled. A powerful jutsu from the one hailed as the greatest ninja in history.. This would be sweet. "Ok Kyuubi-sensei I'm ready..."

the Kyuubi sighed. **"Hmm.. Yes well. I'm not sure how to exactly go about doing this.. I have a mind well over 5 times the analytical power of the Sharingan.. But even though I can produce the jutsu.. I'm not sure how to go about teaching you the methods.. They probably require a teaching method that I do not know.."**

Naruto nodded.

Kyyubi narrowed it's eyes. "**All right, for now I want you to practice making a ball of chakra on your palms at the very center.. Just focus on that. Practice wherever you are and at all times until it becomes second nature to you."**

Naruto nodded in affirmation. "All right thank you Kyuubi-sensei I won't let you down.. And thanks for the Birthday gift.. I will master this jutsu better than the Yondaime ever did.. And then I will use it to protect you with these two hands."

With that he ran out of the seal smiling like an idiot.

Naruto spent the entire morning practicing over and over the ball of chakra. He found it was very difficult because getting chakra to form into a ball was goign against it's normal nature of unpredictable flaming. He had only succeeded in 2 balls in 4 and a half hours of training.

He was dead tired.

It took a lot of mental control and focus to do this jutsu.. And he was hungry. He knew it was dangerous to venture out into the open on the commemoration day.. But.. He had no food at home. So hoping to grab a quick bite at the Ichiraku Ramen shop he bolted out the door trying to be as stealthy as possible.

Unfortunately fate was not with him.

_Ichiraku closed_ the sign read. "Shit.." muttered Naruto.. Now what was he gonna do. He turned to head home when suddenly he ducked downa nd to the right. As 3 kunai whizzed by him. A shuriken caught him in the back.

"Ahhh!" he cried out in pain. He turned and saw as a set of Chuunin dropped down and stared at the child before them. "Well.. Well.. What have we here.. It's the demon child. You have a lot of nerve showing your face here on this day.."

"The day you killed our Hokage!" One of the Chuunin kumped up and kicked Naruto square in the chest sending him into a wall. A set of kunai shot into him pinning him agaisnt the wall.

His screams alerted a few but when they saw who it was they simply turned to ignore it or smirked and sat back to watch the show.

Suddenly a blur of black appeared and a silver haired man perched on a roof. Kakashi was brought by the scream and when he saw that a group of Chuunin were beating on a little kid it enraged him.

He was about to jump down and give them a beating they wouldn't soon forget when he caught sight of the boy.

His eyes narrowed. "The demon brat... hmph... serves him right..it's not my place to interfere with something like this." he muttered and jumped off the roof disappearing in a blur of motion as Naruto continued to be helplessly beat.

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Naruto stumbled into the seal and loked around frantically for his friend. Kyuubi suddenly appeared at the front of the cage and once it grasped the situation it's eyes widened before narrowing and growing cold.

Very cold.

"**Naruto.. Listen to me and do exactly as I tell you and do it now form the seals I'm going to project into your mind.. And hurry.. There's not much time!" **

The young boy nodded and did as hew as told. Suddenly Kyuubi's cage was ablaze with fiery red chakra and it began to leak out all over Naruto's body.

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The Chuuin were relentlessly beating the bloodied body after it had gone unconscious and just as one was coming in for the kill he went to run his kunai through the boys face.

Suddenly the boys eyes opened. But they were not the blue eyes of the normal boy.. They were the fury filled eyes of the demon fox.

The blood red eyes of a very pissed off bijju. The kunai knife was brought down and a red aura exploded out of the boy as swirling tendrils of it shot out and dug into the ground cracking it.

The kunai was caught securely in Naruto's sharp canine jaws. Suddenly he bit down shattering the metal kunai and sending shards of it everywhere.

The Chuunin went wide eyed. But before they could scream or call for help Naruto was on them. Kyuubi had partial control of Naruto and even with his 10 year old body it was able to completely demolish the Chuunin.

Not wanting Naruto to have to explain 4 dead bodies the Kyuubi sliced cleanly dribbling only a little blood to mix with Naruto's own large amount on the ground. By now all his wounds had healed up.

After killing them Naruto formed 4 seals and created a fox fire jutsu that incinerated the corpses.

The ashes scattered into the wind. Then he drooped his head and when Naruto opened his eyes again he found that he'd completely healed and that the Chuunin were nowhere to be seen. Inside he heard a distant voice say.. "I think it would be wise to get home as soon as possible.." Naruto agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment and bounded off.

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"Kakashi... I'm curious.. Have you seen Naruto at all today?" Kakashi looked at the Sandaime.. Why do you ask Hokage-sama?" Sandaime sighed. "Today is a very difficult day for him.. I was.. Worried he might get into some trouble so I was curious if you've seen him today.."

Kakashi was a lot of tings.. And a liar was one of them.. But this was the Sandaime Hokage.. He couldn- no, wouldn't lie to the Sandaime Hokage.

"Yes, I saw the boy being beaten by a group of Chuunn in an alleyway earlier today. Sandaime looked worried. "Did you stop them?"

Kakashi remained passive. "No."

Sandaime widened his eyes. "What! Whay not!"

Kakashi looked him dead in the eyes.. "That demon killed some of my closest friends, including my Sensei.. And you honestly expect me to protect that... thing."

Sandaime sighed. "Kakashi.. There is something about Naruto that you should know.. When the Yondaime was searching for a vessel to hold the Kyuubi in he knew he could not burden another family with it.. He just wasn't the type of man to do that."

"So.. He did it to the only one he felt he could.. He did it to Naruto.. His son."

Kakashi paled. "W-what! that boy is.." Suddenly his mind clicked as both his eyes widened.. the sharingan being hidden from view behind the cloth of his headband.

The blonde hair.. The blue eyes.. That look of determination.. How could he have missed it..

"But.. Then that means.." Sandaime nodded. "Yes, The Yondaime had a child with a woman he did not marry.. She left him with the child who he refused to give up, regardless of the consequences on his office..."

"And then the Kyuubi attacked and he had no choice but to sacrifice him anyway.. His last wish was for Naruto to be remembered and looked upon as a hero in this village.. However his wish has not been fulfilled.. Not even by his student it seems.."

Kakashi blinked in surprised horror. And then regret washed over him. More than blaming himself for the death of Obito, more than the kills he'd made as an ANBU captain..

Because.. If the child of his Sensei was dead.. He would know forever that he had once had the chance to save him.. And for once.. It really would be his fault.

"I apologize Hokage-sama.. I will.. Go check on the boy immediately."

With that he was gone.

Sandaime sighed. Kayaku.. I have tried but it seems your final wish is simply too much to make a reality.."

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Meanwhile Naruto sat in his cold little apartment unconscious on the floor as inside the seal he worked fervently on making another ball of chakra. Sweat poured down his forehead as he remembered the words of his teacher Iruka.

"_When something is precious.. You fight to protect it with all of your strength.. That is when you can become truly strong_.."

"When something is precious.." Naruto mumbled. he looked at the Kyuubi sitting there watching him.

He didn't care how big or not human it might be or how "evil" it was

Naruto had a very precious person.

And it's name was...

Note: ok that's it for chapter 2.

5..4...3..2..1.. HAPY NEW YEAR!

Happy 2006 to all yall, as I said I have like 10 chapters already outlined and all. And yeah.. I know I know.. Considerable time skip to go from impudent mortal to Naruto my friend but.. Hey if they spend every second together they bound to develop a friendship.. Also.. At the age of 10 he is learning Rasengan.. And he will get super powered from another source too.. But we'll save that for later..

Well anyway more to come soon. Dbfs is also on the way ill kinda alternate between stories so.. Yeah anyways next chapter will be pretty cool as it will have Naruto's second graduation exam and the results this time around are...

Pace.


	3. Room to Grow

Chapter 3: (Room to Grow)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime or games I'm takin this shit from.

Ahem.. Answering questions..

TankerMDK: ok well to understand this you need to know something. Arashi is not the Fourths real name. It is a fan favorite name that fan fic authors use b/c they are afraid to break the conservative mold.

However this has a small flaw. You see in some filler anime arcs a character named Arashi was part of the Fuuma clan in rice country. Thus, Arashi is already used in the anime effectively making it non canon to use this name.

Secondly, the name Kayaku is another somewhat fan favorite name b/c the characters closely resemble the signature on the Gamabunta summoning scroll. In all likelihood if Kishimoto does think of an idea neither Arashi or Kayaku will be used.. But for now Kayaku is the closest thing I have been able to find. Over fifty percent of this information was reaffirmed in the fic "Name in the Whirlpool" by: roterritter

Onikami no Shinobi: Well... there will be a twist here and there in clothing... but for now I'm keeping orange around. As for Ino being on his team.. Hmmm.. We are reading a little far ahead there aren't we.. This is interesting as you have all seemed to forget one of the essential elements about fanfiction and Infamous X..

But don't worry..

A good deal of confusion and misinterpretations will be cleared up at the end of this chapter..

Mustang GT: You'll see..

Laser Crusader: thx for the suggestions. However.. None of yall seem to see the direction I'm heading with this.. But thas ok..

Yall will at the end..

As for your suggestions, Gamabunta will be REALLY hard to summon with the chakra of a genin... Naruto was only able to do it b/c his life was in danger.. And he doesn't have anyone to give him the scroll to even get the contract.

With Kyuubi's current state I doubt it would sit back and just give him chakra, also Kyuubi doesn't know about Naruto's summoning training remember.. Still the Kakashi thing is interesting idea.. But at this point it would be like a story in itself to do that.. Matter of fact I encourage you to write one like that... I'd like to read it and see how it comes out.

To all reviewers thank you, every review is read and appreciated.

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And now on with the story...

Kyuubi's visits from Naruto had been becoming less and less frequent. Finally he stopped coming at all.

Kyuubi knew that he had a Genin final to prepare for and how important becoming a ninja was for him, but at the same time.. The mighty fox was concerned... and lonely. Though it would never admit it.

Naruto for his part, had locked himself in libraries, bathrooms , his house, and deserted training grounds for hours at a time practicing. He was determined to get it. He had before him hundreds and hundreds of talismans and combinations.

Naruto had kept a extremely meticulous log of each failed combination to every last detail. He had piles and piles of half opened scrolls and every book of information on the Yondaime he could get.

The breakthrough had come when he had been sent to the Hokage for breaking and entering to get into the library.

The librarian wouldn't let him stay in the day because the normals would avoid it and he became like a plague for business.

The Hokage had been called in to discuss a brief report from a Jounin and he'd commanded Naruto to sit on the small mat in front of his desk until he returned.

As soon as he was gone Naruto sprung up and began tearing through the list of possible hiding places he had acquired over the many visits to the office. He was careful to replace the things he moved out exactly as he'd found them. Finally in a corner under a hidden panel he found what he was looking for. Briefly browsing through the scroll he found it contained the thing he'd been searching for. The Yondaime's last scroll.

The villagers would never tell him about the Yondaime. And as part of the exam the students were required to give a oral report on a ninja of history. Of course the Fourth was chosen by nearly half the class but Naruto had a much different approach. He was going to give his report not on the legend but on the real Yondaime as he truly was by the facts.

The scroll would come in handy in the report but it served a deeper purpose. After all the scroll most likely contained information on the spinning orb as well as other of his legendary skills. For it to be labeled forbidden, and hid in the personal office of the Hokage.. It had to have some value.

Naruto packed it away safely in his bag before sitting back down on the mat after replacing the office to it's original position.

Naruto waited another 5 minutes before a murmur began to get louder as the Sandaime Hokage got closer to his door. Finally the door opened and he smiled waving to a mysterious Jounin. "Yes, good work Hayate.."

With that he turned on Naruto with a frown. "So.. You've done something to get yourself into trouble again.." He sighed, taking his pipe and readjusting it in his mouth. And so began the "lecture of doom" as the irritated 10 year old called it.

Naruto could almost swear it was exactly the same each and every time, word for word.

He tuned it out considering retreating into his seal to see Kyuubi but he wasn't ready yet.. He was close.. He could almost feel it, with this scroll.. He would have it..

The next time he came before Kyuubi he could hold his head high and proud.. Hopefully as a ninja.

Finally he came back to reality to see the Hokage pacing back and forth "-at is why you must understand the importance of blah blah blah.." Slowly the words smashed together and blurred as Naruto again tuned him out. This was somewhere near the middle of the monologue.

He tried again about 3 minutes later. "-eople of this village must draw strength from one another, you cannot continue to act as one.. The ninja of the hidden leaf must value and trust their team.. If you continue with these pranks and escapades then you will not be able to earn that trust, and that will meahh blah blah blah"

Naruto internally sighed.

_Damn this geezer can talk._

Again he tried 5 minutes after he'd last tuned him out.

"-ou see now why you must cease these disrespectful acts?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I was trying to get into the library because they won't let me in in the day time."

Naruto frowned. "And besides.. How are you going to punish a man for seeking higher learning..."

The Hokage narrowed his eyes. "Ah.. Yes.. And I suppose graffitiing the mountainside image of the Yondaime was part of this search for higher learning as well.."

Naruto cringed.

The Hokage continued. "Or perhaps it was your unquenchable search for knowledge that led you to put laxatives in the Chuunin staff lounge coffee supply."

"And.. It must have been the burning passion for education that motivated you to capture and hide the dog that the genin team 4 was assigned to retrieve. A D class mission with a Jounin sensei was prolonged for nearly 2 days as I recall..."

Naruto couldn't help it. He'd needed a guinea pig to try his experiments on. The dog had sucked as a lab rat anyway.

The blonde boy didn't reply.

The Hokage sighed. "Look, just lay off the jokes and stunts for awhile at least.. The people are beginning to get more upset than usual.. Alright Naruto?"

Naruto had turned to go.

This was... new. The old man had never talked to him like this before.

He waved it off. "Yeah whatever.. Seeya old man!"

He bounded out of the Hokage office and blasted straight home to start the work on the scroll he'd obtained.

This had indeed proved to be a breakthrough. The scroll had not only contained more information on the spinning orb but also several other jutsu's including the extraordinarily complicated one that Naruto decided to forgo sleep to unlock. The one that held the key to achieving what he desired.

Naruto's final exam was only 2 weeks away when he began to get some positive results in his experimentation. Through pure trial and error and the process of elimination the thousands upon thousands of combinations began to start yielding better and better results.

With Naruto on his final week, his class was reviewing the basics in preparation for the final. Naruto sat in his desk writing down theoretical combinations of the extremely advanced drawings.

Iruka did not notice what Naruto was doing. The boy had become much less extroverted. He spent nearly all of is time in libraries or in his house.

This suited him and the rest of the majority of Kohona just fine. He moved from one end of the room to the other and continued his quick review on the doton element.

There were a few stand out students. Hyuuga Neji was very impressive.

He knew everything.

Period.

Any question on anything they had learned could be instantly answered by Neji in a matter of seconds. Then there was Kumiyo Tsubano. He was a monster with his sheer chakra reserves. The final would suit someone like him very well. The weapons girl, Tenten had extremely good control of her chakra. Overall the class of potential rookie's was looking very bright.

And so the day of the final got closer and closer until finally Naruto woke up one morning after one of his now extraordinarily rare sleep periods. He'd wanted to be somewhat rested for his exam. He looked at his calendar as his black cap slid off. The date circled in red was now here.

He slowly made his way over to it and took out his red marker. He made the final diagonal slash through the date and went to get dressed in usual orange jumpsuit. Pulling on his goggles he ran his hand through his hair spiking it up. He grabbed his bag and a container of instant ramen and blasted out the door.

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Kyuubi knew it was the day of the exam. It was a little confused as to why the boy had not come to see it. The fox had wanted to wish it's mortal friend good luck. It sat with its paws folded. Kyuubi had kept a very careful track of time so it would know when the day of the exam arrived.

Naruto blasted through the halls and made it into Iruka's classroom. He took his seat and was acknowledged with a nod by Iruka who never looked up once from his reading. Kiko stood next to him in her full chuunin array. Her uniform was pressed and ironed and her vest was shining and professional. Iruka always wore his own spotless.

Naruto and the other Genin potentials did not share their sense of professionalism. They wore their usual set of clothes with not much care for their outward appearances. Iruka looked up as a bell suddenly rang.

He smiled and came forward. "Welcome potential Genin of the Leaf village academy.."

"You have all traveled very far to make it here through 4 years of this ninja academy.. And now this is the final step into you becoming full fledged shinobi."

Kiko looked at him and smiled, proudly nodding her head. "Congratulations on this day.. We look forward to the success of each and every one of you."

She closed her eyes. "We will now begin the final exam."

Opening them she became serious "When your name is called please come to the front of the class state your name and subject and then present your oral report."

"There will be complete respect shown to the person giving the report. There will be no and I repeat NO interrupting until the report is done not even we will be able to. You are not being graded on your position but on the research and level of work you put into it."

Iruka read off of a sheet of attendance. "Arasuma Tako.." The cocky boy jumped out of his seat and he went to the front of the class. "Alright.. My report was on the Yondaime, the coolest ninja ever!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. _The Yondaime, what a surprise.. _

Tako continued clearing his throat.

He had no props. So he was either very serious about graduating and memorized it or very lazy and was going to try and wing it on the spot.

"Well.. Uh.. Ok so the Yondaime was this great ninja who embodied all the ideas and stuff that leaf ninja hold true.. He was the man!"

Naruto groaned.. _Well that answers that question.._

The entire report was on how "cool" the Yondaime was.

Iruka had his head grinding in his palm by the end of it. Kiko remained impassive. When he finished he shot a victory symbol above his head. The class laughed as he made his way back to his seat. Iruka sighed saying "Thank you Tako for that... 'informative' piece on the Yondaime's social rank.."

"Next up would be "Rutoba Yuma"

The young navy blue haired girl smiled as she came to the front her soft smile beaming with confidence. She bowed. "My report was on the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto rolled his eyes. _Again? This is pathetic... _

She began. "The Yondaime Hokage was Born Kayaku. He was actually an orphan so not even he knew his last name." She lowered her gaze on the neatly printed information that covered her set of note cards. She had been a lot more prepared than the earlier boy.

Iruka nodded in satisfaction. Naruto just tuned it out. And so the morning passed on with all the students with the exception of a few who did the Sandaime Hokage or one of the Legedary Sannin displayed their rose filled praises on the man who was the Yondaime Hokage.

Until.. Finally the name was called. "And ..Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde boy smiled and jumped up. His bright blue eyes nearly the exact same shade of blue as the very man who was so well mentioned that morning.

"Oiy! Get ready.. My report is a little different!"

Iruka sighed. "Yes that's's very nice Naruto.. Now.." he moved his hand in a circular pattern motioning him to get on with it.

Naruto nodded. "Ok. My report is on the Yondaie Hokage." Iruka nearly broke down crying. He loved the Yondaime as much as the next guy but he had just heard the exact same story and facts from over 20 different students. Nearly back to back. He sighed. "Continue.."

Naruto pulled his ragged and crumpled sheet of paper up and began.

"The Yondaime Hokage was born to a special clan of shinobi. This clan was really powerful but they were constantly abused."

"The village council actually sent them out on S class missions as teams of 2 or sometimes even alone.."

"As a result when the Mist resurgence began Kohona sent out the clan to kick everybody's ass. But they got overwhelmed and turned into barbecue."

"That's where Kayaku's parent were supposed to be killed or something." "Anyway after the resurgence died down the remaining clan members were all pissed off because the council had used them like cattle. They thought that if they were going to be used as if they were gods that could take down an army each then they should get the special treatment too."

"This was before the legendary Sannin ever returned from the wandering stages. So.. The clan's name was lost because of the sham it brought upon itself. They raped anyone they felt like and killed anyone that looked at them wrong.

They actually began referring to themselves as the Daiyamo Clan because they behaved like high level Samurai." "One day a bunch of them got drunk and went over and raped one of the main house leaders. This pissed off the main branch and they got killed in a vengeance killing."

"This sparked instant revenge from their friends and before anybody knew it the whole clan was at each others throats. They began a internal war with each other that was making Kohona look bad with the constant bloodshed."

"So when the clan was finally reduced to 14 members not counting the baby Kayaku they all got sent out on a mission together. And what happened was exactly what the council planned to. They killed the rest of each other in the wilderness.. The survivors were too weak to make the journey back to Kohona."

The whole eradication of one of the most powerful clans in Kohona's history upset everything and the Sannin were immediately called back in.

But no enemies came.. Nobody knows why.. Prolly because they were all to big a pussies to try anything but that's just my idea.." Naruto grinned and turned over the first paper in his hands.

"Anyway, Kayaku grew up orphaned but everybody felt sorry for him because his whole clan was stricken by 'madness' as they called it.." "So random families took care of him and helped him out with food and training."

"The teachers in school paid really close attention to him and he was considered a genius." He was snobbish to the other kids and disrespectful of anyone who he didn't think he could use."

"It's been well documented by various eyewitnesses how biased and manipulative he was."

Iruka widened his eyes. He could not believe Naruto was doing this. The blonde sat up there reading his report with a grin widening.

Iruka shook his head. What Naruto was presenting were rumors from those jealous of the Yondaime and unable to recognize how great a man he was to the entire village! and this little brat had the gall to present this trash as...FACT!

"Anyway.. Kayaku got older and more obnoxious. He began using a special jutsu to prevent any of the bad stuff on him and he starting screwing all his fan girls." "Then when he was done or they got pregnant he denied any contact with them."

"And since he was the mighty Kayaku who could do no wrong so it had to be the 'harlots' who'd tried to pin their responsibility on the innocent prodigy."

Then he started applying a new method in his training. During his Chuunin exam he had the most number of kills in the entire exam.. Not just for that year but for the entire history of the freaking exam!" "Even with the numbers on the page and the bodies on the ground he was let off and promoted to Chuunin almost immediately."

"During his Jounin exam he killed the final examiner. And then he put his teammate in the hospital during a practice match as Jounin. The Sannin Jiraiya had to step in to stop him from killing her too."

Kiko was shaking with fury. This... little.. Brat.. He was defiling the memory of the greatest man she had ever seen and there was nothing they could do about it.

After a heated argument a few weeks before he became a full fledged special Jounin he actually fought with his teacher Jiriaya and seriously injured him." Jiraiya managed to knock him out and when he woke up Kayaku couldn't handle it so he left on a high A class mission."

When he came back he was completely out of weapons and everyone including the target and civilians that had gotten anywhere near him had been killed."

"Of course, he went in and was promoted to Special Jounin regardless, and then he was given a Genin team to train."

"Supposedly with the Genin team under his command he mellowed out a little but he was still recorded to have continued his multiple orgies with his fan girls who had only increased with his new positions."

And like always, he denied the activity and continued working with his students. The female on Kayaku's team Rin was reported to have admitted to sexual advances on her multiple times. So I guess that would make the 'mighty Yondaime' a pedophile too.."

Iruka closed his eyes and grit his teeth as his veins bulged with boiling blood. He was going to kill this little blaspheming snot if he didn't wrap it up soon..

"Long story short, after the Stone War he became widely known as the Legendary Yellow Flash.. But what's unknown to most was that the nickname was actually first used by his fan girls for being so quick with his relationships with them. His hair being yellow he was in and out of a new girls bed in a flash and with his speed move.. It was almost literally."

"Eventually he was chosen to be the Yondaime Hokage over Orochimaru which upset the latter greatly. After he left, Kayaku didn't even bother chasing him which is why we have the Sound to deal with today."

"His rule as Hokage was very short lived though. The Kyuubi attack forced him out to fight. But he found that for all his legend and skill he was nothing compared to the fox. So realizing he couldn't beat it by killing it he chickened out like the pussy he really was and tricked it using a sealing technique."

"The seal was really powerful and it required him to kill himself to make it work but he knew that his legend would live on in infamy and adoration so being the egotistical bastard to the end he made sure that even after death he would be revered as the god he thought himself to be."

"And now he's dead and his body stuck somewhere in limbo or hell or something."

"And that's my report on the Yondaime as he REALLY was."

Naruto put his paper on Iruka's desk and walked back to his seat. The room was silent. The faces of his classmates were shocked, disgusted, horrified, and even hateful."

Iruka closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. "Thank you Uzumaki." he croaked out in barely suppressed rage. "Next up Shanamu Roi"

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The second part of the exam as very simple. The test on the knowledge of the 5 types of jutsu. All the student had to do was generate one jutsu from each element. One Katon, Doton, Futon, Suiton, and Raiton.

It could be anywhere from basic d level all the way to special family B class jutsus but that was the exam. Ass it turned out many students knew fire, wind and a few doton, but the lightning and water were very rare elements.

The time eventually came for Naruto. He stepped forward with his head held high. The examiners had, by this time, gotten over his earlier speech. Iruka looked at him annoyed. "Alright, Uzumaki. Show us what you can do."

Naruto nodded. "Alright, here goes!"

He formed 3 seasl and called out "**Futon: Kumori no Jutsu!"**

The air around Naruto began shooting upward. It finally died down as the barrier was released. Kio made some marks on her clip board and motioned for him to continue. Naruto flashed through another set of seals.

" **Katon:** **Gokakyu no Jutsu!"**

A small steam of flame shot out from Naruto's lips. Iruka looked over at Kiko as Naruto began forming the seals for his Suiton. A rectangular tank of water was placed in the middle of the room for Naruto to use.

The Yondaime's scroll had a lot of good high level jutsu's that he simply didn't have the time or the chakra to master. So he could only play with the smaller ones and try to apply concepts from those.

Naruto called out: **"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu!"**

Iruka nearly dropped his pen Kiko went wide eyed. They were both about to shout NO when the water from the tank rippled from his chakra and it exploded upward. Naruto went wide eyed as the water blew the bucket to pieces. The explosion, while nothing for the level of jutsu, was still quite large and the blast of water covered the testing area.

Iruka looked at Naruto as he and Kiko were now both completely drenched. The two Chunin narrowed their eyes at the small blond boy. Naruto began to chuckle putting his hand behind his head. "So.. Uh he he... I uh.. Thought you looked thirsty.."

Iruka got a sadistic smile on his face. "That's enough Mr. Uzumaki.. We don't need to see anymore .. I have 2 words for you.."

Kiko stalked up to him and leaned down and whispered ever so softly. "Naruto-kun..." then her features twisted in a rage filled scowl.

"**YOU FAIL!"**

Naruton sighed. "Yeah I kinda figured that." he started towards the door.

Iruka shook his head. "I didn't think you could do any worse than last time."

"I'll see you again next year and you had better have a different attitude because this will be your last chance, if you fail next year that's it.. I'm recommending you get dropped form the program! PERMANENTLY!"

Naruto sighed. "Yeah.. Whatever." He walked out making small splatters in the now drenched room.

Kiko in the background was heard roaring at a Genin aide to get someone in to clean this up.

Naruto opened the door and slunk back into his seat. He tried to ignore the stares and laughs as he put his head on his desk.

He had wanted to be a ninja. How was he ever going to become strong enough to help Kyuubi if he couldn't even pass the stupid test to BECOME a ninja. Was he even ready for this afternoon?

He wanted to just sleep. He didn't want to sit there and go over his failure in his mind. He wanted all the laughing and remarks around him to fade into the dark black of his sleep. It wouldn't cure it, but it would make the pain go away even if only for a short while.

Besides, he had another trial to deal with today. And this one may be much more difficult than the final exam.

Finally Naruto was shaken awake by some passing students. Just like last time the only one who'd failed was him.

He sighed. His second time failing the exam. He slowly walked out of the classroom. As he left the school he shrugged. "Oh well, might as well get ready for the next thing." He grinned as he made his way back to his apartment.

Upon entering he turned to look at the clock to see that it was lunch. He sat down to eat so he would have plenty of energy for the afternoon. If he was going to come anywhere close to succeeding he was going to have to really pump up to full. And so he popped his instant Ramen into the battered and decrepit microwave and went to fetch his chopsticks.

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"You don't understand Hokage-sama.. I have tried to understand him.. To look past what's inside of him but.. The boy simply will not cooperate!"

The Sandaime Hokage sighed. "Iruka.. I understand your frustration.. But you of all people should understand what being truly alone can make someone do.."

Iruka shook his head violently. "NO.. I-it's not just the pranks Hokage-sama.. He just.. Did you hear about his 'report' on the Yondaime.. It was.. The most blasphemous compilation of rumors and degrading lies I've ever heard!"

"And then there's his skill level.. It's pitiful! He can do so much better if he would just get his priorities straight.. I've seen him researching his 'cool' jutsu's.. If I were to give a quiz on the basics of summoning, or shuriken bunshin he'd ace it.. In the final exam he performed a weakened version of the great waterfall explosion.."

The Hokage widened his eyes interrupting Iruka. "What! That's an A level jutsu.. Did he complete it?"

Iruka shook his head. "No.. He understands the seals and basic theory behind it but he has almost no chakra control.. The jutsu was horrendous.. If he'd had the chakra of the Hyuuga boy he might have destroyed the room with it.."

The Sandaime nodded thoughtfully. "You know, Iruka, to Naruto someone like the Yondaime would seem to have it all.. He doesn't know about the hardship's of his early life."

"Naruto knows what it ids to be in pain.. And he knows what it means to be hated and despised." "To him, someone as loved as the Yondaime is a target to vent his anger and frustration off on.."

Iruka snorted. "So it's jealousy.. Childish jealousy.. That's no excuse.."

The Hokage smiled warmly. "Ah.. But Naruto is only a 10 year old boy.. As ninja we fight to deny it.. We strive to erase every trace of it with all our being but the fact inevitably remains.. We are still human.. And even the most skilled and the least skilled 10 year old boy.. Is still a 10 year old boy.."

Iruka looked down. 'Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I will give the boy one more chance.. I will agree to teach him one more year.. But should he fail the third time.."

The Sandaime Hokage nodded. "I understand.. Iruka.. And Don't worry. I think the coming year will be very different from the one before it."

The Sandaime Hokage of the hidden village Kohona had no idea just how right he was.

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Naruto was pumped. He was actually full. He was rested, and he had a large pack on his back. He was sprinting full speed towards a set of trees on the other side of a training ground.

Suddenly he heard a irritated yell that made him stop and turn his head.

"Will you two please do something to attack me instead of just standing there drooling!" Sasuke was getting red. But not from embarrassment. But from pure anger. Two girls walk up to him and ask if they can help him train. He's seen them in class so he figures they might be at least useful as he's never faced a Kunoichi before.

So he agrees expecting to find out the fighting style of Kunoichi and what happens. The two just stand there and stare at him drooling.

He rolled his eyes in disgust and dropped out of stance. "Forget it." he muttered about to turn away when he caught sight of another figure. The blonde one turned around and motioned with her hand. "Oh.. Naruto hi long time no see.. Are you a Genin this time?"

Naruto stopped and looked at the ground scuffing his foot along. "Well.. Not exactly.."

Ino began to snicker.. Are you serious.. You failed again! Ha ha ha ha!"

Sasuke took in this new arrival. He recognized him from the park a about a year ago. Every now and then he would ask him to play.. He, of course, always declined. "Well.. So you failed the Genin test two times now is it?"

Naruto looked irritated at Sasuke. "Yeah.. Well it's hard.. You'd probably fail it too!"

Ino shook her head. "I don't think so Naruto, Sasuke-kun is the best there is.. I bet he could pass it right now even without the final year.

The pink haired one next to her shook her head. "Honestly blondie.. To fail a simple academy test even once is pretty pathetic.. Maybe you should just give up or something."

Sasuke looked at Sakura laughing next to Ino. He shook his head. "Well.. Let me tell you something girls." the two stopped laughing. The raven haired boy produced a icy tone in his voice. "He may have failed the final twice in a row.. But you two are worse than him." "If you've got time to chase me and belittle him then you should train a little so you won't be so pathetic."

With that the boy gave Naruto a irritated shrug and as he passed he muttered "girls.." and continued past the group down to walk off the field.

Ino looked at Naruto and blinked. Sakura looked like she was about to cry. "We... we're worse than.. Than him!"

inner Sakura screamed in protest**_ "NO! NO! NO! NOOO WAAAYYY!"_**

Naruto shrugged. "Well.. I guess you have all summer to train and get stronger.." Sakura nodded. And Ino clenched her fist. "Oh yeah.. You're right Naruto.. The first step is to surpass you.. And then Sasuke will finally recognize me!"

"Dream on Ino-pig!" Sakura snorted.

The two girls continued arguing as the blonde chuckled and resumed his running towards the set of forest at the end of the training field. As he was about to exit ito them he heard a set of yells sound after him.

"Beware Uzumaki Naruto! You have two new rivals!" Naruto chuckled as he deftly moved through the thick foliage as he got deeper and deeper into the forest. He had eluded many pursuers here. If you didn't know the paths to travel you could get lost in the virtual maze of trees and overgrown plants.

He was nearing the place he'd been working on. He'd discovered it the first time when he was 5 and being chased by a mob.

As he moved deeper and deeper into the thick foliage he found that the yells of the mob had died down to a soft murmur until he reached a open clearing. It was moderately large. It had a small lake that ran into the other side of the forest surrounding it in a small winding stream.

Here there was complete silence. He'd forgotten that he was being chased and the mob had given up as it was getting dark. He had found the place again after a few days of searching and it had ben his special place since. Of course, it was always barren. There was never anyone else there. And it was this that he was counting on.

As he slowly stepped into it he found that it was empty. Only the soft chirping of birds and the fluttering of wings could be heard. It was peaceful.

Naruto sighed and began the long process. He had theoretically worked the hundreds of thousands of combinations down to one final solution. He was no genius however. He had simply devoted nearly his entire being to this for the entire year and finally he thought that perhaps he had a chance.

The first step was to get all of the Yondaime's notes he had obtained on sealing. Then, he had to lay a special mat of paper on the ground. After the large paper was lain and aligned perfectly Naruto got a scroll out.

The scroll contained a contract that Naruto had translated and written in an ancient language that he had been forced to piece together from over a hundred thousand different sources.

Kyuubi had largely contributed to this translation though a good deal of it was simple research. Naruto then took out the carefully drawn seals that were to surround the main paper. He aligned them at perfect angles and made sure they were in top condition.

Next he took out the a knife. He sliced his palm open wincing at then apin but he quickly let it dribble down his finger and he began to write as neatly as he possible could the seal

**Hakke no Fuin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style)**

This took nearly an hour. He made absolutely no mistakes.

He had to cut himself several hundred more times to produce the necessary blood. Kyuubi's healing factor continued to regenerate allowing him to keep from dying.

Almost immediately after he set up the

**Shisho Fuin (Four Symbols Seal)**

With both seals written in his blood he then began drawing the final and most difficult seal. The one he'd created.

The: **Joumae Ori Kaiin** **(Locked Cage Unsealing method)**

With the three seals arranged as a triangle with the final seal he'd created at the top, he took his shirt off. He flashed through a set of hand seals and began summoning his chakra. He watched as the swirling ball emerged. He forced more and more chakra into it until it blazed with energy. He then lowered it to his stomach. He let it hover directly hover the seal. Then he plunged it forward crying out in agony and shock as he knew know one would hear him.

He jolted as the drilling ball burrowed into his stomach tearing through his muscles and causing incredible amounts of blood to erupt froth covering the seal. The chakra infused blood began to swirl around the Rasengan and covered the seal drenching it in blood. Strangely the seal began to seem to suck in the blood turning it a blood red color.

Through his agony Naruto let off a small smile. "That was good.. The seal on his stomach was throbbing red and the black ink had turned to blood. The swirling seal actually began to rotate on his stomach as he cried out in pain.

He felt himself going blank. He staggered forward a few inches before falling face first onto the large mat. He had made sure to aim for the center. As he collided with the soft paper he smiled. His stomch wiht the bloody swirling seal had landed exactly in the center of the other three effectivel stamping the seal on his stomch on the paper in blood.

_Bullseye_ was his last cognizant thought.

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Naruto stood up and sprinted to Kyuubi's cage. He didn't have much time. As soon as he arrived Kyuubi was ecstatic.

**Naruto WHAT HAPPENED!" **the loud booming voice roared around him. Naruto shook his head. "Listen Kyubi-san.. There's not much time.. I need you to bite your tail. Use henge to make my body look like a fox's and take control of my body Then and put some of your blood as a pawprint on the paper in front of you."

" Then give control back to me and give me all of your chakra.. As much as you possibly can!" Kyuubi was confused.

"**What are you talking about I haven't seen you for nearly 2 months and all of a sudden you're bleeding out like a fountain and no-" **

Naruto interrupted. "There's no time! Please just do what I asked you.. HURRY!"

The mighty fox nodded. Kyuubi turned around and gathered all 9 of it's tail in it's mouth and chomped down hard. A roar of pain exploded from within the cage and the blood fell in black streams. Mixing the blood with it's chakra the fox widened it's eyes and a surge of red chakra erupted from the cage.

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Naruto's body began to twitch. As he opened his eyes the deep blue had turned a slit and primal red. The boy stood up and pulled his hands together in a henge. His organs and flesh were dropping from the hole created by the Rasengan he'd produced. A poof of smoke later and a medium sized fox stood in his place.

The fox quickly rushed forward and slapped a paw down on the paper making a bloody pawprint. The pawprint began to crackle with red bolts of electrical energy as he removed it and stepped back dropping the henge and immediately returning control to Naruto.

Naruto awoke to a world of pain. But there was no time to cry or scream. He only had one shot to get this right.

"Alright he choked out coughing up blood. "Now.. Kyuubi.. GIVE ME EVERYTHING YOU HAVE, ALL OF IT NOW!"

Kyuubi was skeptic. "**Naruto.. You can't handle my power it's too much.. I can't give it all to you.."**

Naruto mentally screamed._"PLEASE I DON'T CARE WHAT IT DOES TO ME JUST GIVE IT NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"_

Kyuubi finally reluctantly consented.

With a mighty roar the powerful fox widened it's eyes and a surge of red power shot out of the cage. A massive wave of crimson chakra exploded out being filtered only by the slender bars of the cage.

On the outside Naruto began to feel the tremendous power surging through him. He also felt his insides burning up because of it. He didn't care though.

He moved his hands through a set of seals.

Boar

Dog

Bird

Monkey,

Sheep

The 3 seals lit ablaze with the chakra. Next to him the scroll he had personally written was shaking violently as the bottom part previously blank was rapidly being covered by glowing reddish white letters seemingly writing themselves.

The complex seals all surrounded him as Naruto stood on top of the seal he'd stamped with his stomach holding the final hand seal. A set of new seals began to glow bright red as they formed a circular pattern around the 3 seals in the shape of a triangle.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"** (Summoning Technique)

Naruto screamed out as he slammed his hand into the paper under him which was the bloody seal he'd stamped from his stomach and the seal exploded as blood shot up around him in a kind of aura and the black squiggly lines blasted around his palm and shot off in different directions. Wind shot up from around him as a rush of power began to seep out form his tenketsu's.

The seals on the scroll he was on all lit up a brilliant reddish white.

The earth under him began to shake. Finally an explosion of white ninja smoke exploded around him in a gigantic cloud reaching up high into the air.

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Kyuubi roared as loud as it could fury at whatever was harming Naruto fueling it's release of power. Suddenly the cage began to shake.

Kyuubi didn't notice at first but then it began to become more violent as the entire mind scape of the seal began to crumble.

It widened it's eyes. The bars began to tremble as they were finally unlodged from the eternal darkness they rose up into. And for the first time in over 10 years Kyuubi saw the bars that kept it sealed inside of the boy fall to the ground.

Now open the mighty fox felt an enormous pull on it. The kind of power that the sealing technique the Yondaime had used. This was an ancient method.. Whatever it was Kyuubi would not be able to resist it.

And so the fox let go and allowed itself to be pulled toward the source. It found itself taking the form of a stream of chakra the essence of itself. It's true body was lodged in the death god's prison with the infernal Yondaime for eternity.

Kyuubi found itself shooting down the hall it had seen Naruto exit many times. And the truth finally dawned on it

Freedom.

Naruto had somehow found a way to free it. And yet.. It could not be free.. As it's body was forever locked in the Death God's prison.. And from that.. There was no escape.

The stream of chakra essence blasted out of the seal and the entire area became a brilliant white. Then it felt itself being pulled into something. It found itself now somewhat tangible and opening it's eyes it saw a world of smoke.

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Naruto smiled. He coughed up some more blood. He looked up falling to his knees. He wanted to at least see it before he died. He wanted to know for sure that he had actually pulled it off.

As the smoke finally faded a massive figure was revealed to be a gigantic 9 tailed fox. It's fur was crimson red as it's slit eyes were wide in confusion. It looked down and they became even wider.

Naruto thought he saw the fox mouth his name but he couldn't be sure with the strange muzzled lips.

He fell in seeming slow motion completely content with his success. _Screw being a ninja.. If I had to pass one trial and fail the other I'd gladly take this one over the graduation any day.._

His last thoughts before the blackness enveloped him were

_I did it.. I really did it..._

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Naruto slowly opened his eyes expecting to find himself in heaven or hell or something. But instead. He found a strange silhouette.

He kept his eyes squinted and waiting a few seconds to get his vision to focus, he found that a set of red blurs morphed into ruby red eyes. He shifted a little expecting to find himself in white robes.

He didn't feel the long material though, his vision finally began to focus fully and he took in more of the features of the face in front of him.

The face was rounded and soft. Red bangs spiked off from the center and cascaded down slightly covering the left eye. The other was tucked behind a long red floppy ear. The ear was a slightly darker shade than the rest of the hair.

There was a dark ruby almost black in color in the center of the forehead.

The lips were pursed in a look of.. An emotion he couldn't quite place. They more complimented the other features to create a combined look of concern. The skin was a tanned bronze. Naruto also noticed two small weights on his chest as the face got closer to inspect him. He suddenly widened his eyes at the realization of what was on him.

It was A GIRL!

He opened his eyes wide and bolted upright.

The girl widened her own eyes and dodged to the left just barely avoiding being head butted by the quick motion. As Naruto fell back onto the bed unable to support the quick spring up he looked at the girl more closely.

He hadn't looked around the room to see where he was so he still assumed he was in heaven. And given the circumstances he did what any 10 year old would do.

He asked.

"So are you an angel?"

The girl widened her eyes as she looked at him and then she began to tremble. The lips curved upward in a smirk. This could not be sustained long as the lips burst open in a small snicker. The snicker very quickly became a chuckle which erupted into a full fledged laugh. The girl was shaking so hard she fell out of the chair she was sitting in.

A loud thud accompanied was by her melodious laughter. Naruto's face began to get red. He knew she was laughing at him. And yet.. At the same time.. The laughter sounded.. Nice.

A set of clear manicured nails reached up and gripped the to f the chair as small snickers were still heard echoing around the room. Naruto sat up and looked around the room.

He finally noticed that it looked a lot like.. His apartment.

"So.. This isn't heaven huh.." The girl looked a him still snickering. She sucked her lips in attempting to gain control of her emotions enough to explain.

"No.. You're still alive." she narrowed her eyebrows "thanks to me you twit!"

"What the hell was that supposed to be! You could have at least mentioned to me that you were spending all your free time concocting a way to fre me that involved killing yourself!"

Naruto blinked in realization. "Kyuubi.."

The girl was looking at him with an irritated scowl. "Yeah.. And you should have told me before you went off and did something that stupid.. That way I could have told you not to do it!"

Naruto suddenly became alert. "So it worked.. You have your real body back now right?"

Kyuubi blinked a few seconds.

"Hmm.. Yeah.. I guess I do.. Hmm.. Y'no I didn't really notice it."

"I was so preoccupied using some of my highest level healing jutsus's trying to keep you alive I didn't really have time to think much on it."

Naruto shook his head. "But how'd you get into my apartment.. I mean you didn't just waltz into the village did you?"

She nodded. "Oh yeah.. It's easy.. Very vew humans have ever seen this form and none of them are from the last 200 years. All I had to do was make a fake forehead protector and a vest and bam. I'm a new Jounin.."

Naruto smiled. "So I did it.. And I'm still alive.. Alright!"

"I can be a ninja after all.."

Kyuubi looked at him solemnly. Hold on Naruto.. There's some things I wanna talk to you about.."

"While I was out getting supplies to treat you here I got pulled into a Jounin meeting. One of the topics for discussion was you.. They hate you here and they are purposely trying to hold you back.."

"They were all celebrating because you failed and none of them have to take you in on their team. They discussed next year and all agreed that if they had to take you.. They would make sure to limit your growth as a top priority."

"If you could make it here I'd do everything I can to help you but the simple fact is. You just can't do it here.. You need a place to grow.."

Naruto looked at her in confusion. "What.. Do you mean?"

Kyuubi smiled softly running a hand through his blonde locks. "Leave Kohona."

Naruto's eyes widened. "N-no.. way I can't do that they'd make me a missing ninja and hunt me down and drag me back and then.."

Kyuubi interrupted him. She looked thoughtful placing her pointer finger to her lip.

"Really.. Yeah.. That would be a problem... though I could have sworn I heard the Jounin say that you had failed the test to become a ninja twice."

"How can you be a missing ninja when you aren't even A NINJA to begin with?"

Naruto's eyes brightened in realization. "Ohhh.. I get it.."

"They wouldn't even care.. No actually they'd probably make it a holiday and celebrate the day they drove the demon chid from the village.."

Kyuubi looked at him and sighed. "I'm sorry.. I know it's because of me that everyone hates you.."

Naruto brightened. "Nahh.. It's ok.. I still have you."

She smiled and hugged him. Naruto motioned with his hands and he managed to get out. "Choking..choking me.."

Kyuubi quickly let him go and dropped the crumpled boy to the bed. She scratched the side of her head and chuckled nervously.. "Um.. I guess I'm a little rusty on controlling my power in this form a he he.."

Naruto looked around. "So do you have the scroll I wrote and the other stuff I used?" She brightened up. "Oh yeah.. How did you come up with that?"

"It was genius.."

Naruto placed a hand behind his head embarrased. 'Uh, well... I knew just unlocking the seal would only let your essence out so to fully release you I had to get your body back too.. So I got to thinking... what exactly is the death go's prison... then I realized it's a dimension.."

"And since no one ever made a Fox Summoning Contract.. I figured that the temporal space from which the summoned thing was taken could be changed."

"But it took a lot of seals and a shitload of combinations and tries.. I almost feel sad for that poor dog.."

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow.

Naruto quickly continued. "Anyway.. I basically broke down the Yondaime's 3 sealing methods and reversed them with my unsealing one and then I used the summoning technique to bring you and your body together."

"All the seals on the paper had to be right for the technique to work.. It took a lot of planning and a lot of studying.. But I guess I got it.."

She nodded. "Oh hey.. Since I'm a summoned creature I'm not free indefinitely am I?"

Naruto shook his head. "No.. I don't think so.. But I'm working on that.." "Anyway, Before we go too much farther I wanna cement the contract so I don't have to go through that every time I summon you ok?"

Kyuubi nodded and went to get the scroll. They completed the transaction by writing their respective names on it and Kyuubi agreed to grant Naruto the right to summon foxes. The last of the scroll was covered and the contract to summon Foxes was born.

Naruto then put the scroll in his bag and he began packing his valuables up. This didn't take him long as he didn't have many.

He packed his mini microwave, his supply of instant ramen, a few blankets and sheets, a pillow and his set of orange jumpsuit's and shorts with a few shirts. He had one toothbrush and a set of Kunai and Shuriken.

He also brought a picture of him with the old Hokage. He somehow felt like bringing it. He turned to look at Kyuubi she seemed to be inspecting the room.

Finishing up he had a bare bed and a set of shinobi magazines along with random clutter on his floor. He had taken all of his shinobi items with him and he looked around knowing that this would be the last time he would ever see it.

Kyuubi came over to him and knelt down so she was eye to eye with him. "I don't want you to think I'm driving you out.. If you want to try and stay here then I'm behind you.. I just don't think anyone here will really allow you to grow the way I know you can.."

Naruto shook his head. "It's ok.. Kohona has never really been my home.."

"I think it's about time I found out where it is.."

Kyuubi nodded. She began to fade in a set of shimmering red sparkles as it formed swirling pattern and traveled back into the seal. The deep voice in his head softly murmured **"Whenever you're ready Naruto.."**

With that Naruto exited the house for the last time locking the door behind him. He left a small note in the hiding place that he'd found that only the Hokage knew about. In it, it explained his basic reasoning and his positions..

He jumped down and made his way to the gate. The sentries were busy talking to each other waiting for the other set to take the next shift. Naruto slipped past them and hopped over the side of the gate. If the Chuunin sentries had sensed him they chose to ignore it.

Naruto didn't really care.. He wasn't planning on coming back. He made his way to the borders of the village entrance. He turned to see the open forest lying between him cloaked in the dark of night.

Naruto jumped up and landed on a tree branch. He began hopping from branch to branch moving farther and farther away from his past and closer towards his future.

Note: ok well that's chapter 3 of Bloody Pawprints, srry it took so long to get out.. But I hope it was worth the wait.. I like the way it turned out..

Anyway what I was saying at the beginning is I've already stated that I like fics where Naruto runs away from Kohona and becomes uber strong then comes back and shows off. But this story has a very special twist. Yall won't see it coming for awhile.. But it's good.

Next.. I want to establish this permanently.

Kyuubi equals Girl.

Naruto equals boy. Ok?

Two thing I am not going to write are

1.) Lemons: I don't write stories describing sex with my characters.. I feel weird and sappy enough doing kiss scenes.. And that's just the basic stuff..

2.) Yaoi: I don't write stories with same sex pairings. When Naruto uses sexy no jutsu I consider him a her (being female) this is the only sort of exception.

Basically other than this I do not write same sex stuff. I do not endorse or discriminate against Yaoi writers but it aint my thing.. I don't read em I don't write em.. So don't ask for this kind of pairing..

Next chapter is good. Naruto meets a mysterious man. Kyuubi and Naruto get closer. Ect.

Also just like DBFS I have drawn out sketches on both computer and paper for the characters of each. So I will probably put out both posters of the two fanfics about the same time. So some of the characters in the BP poster may be spoilers for guys who haven't been introduced yet..

I have a pic I drew on Paint of Kyuubi in human form so if yall wanna see that hit me up and I'll put it on my myspace so yall can view it in my pics. Or I can E-mail it.. Or someone can host it..doesn't really matter to me..

If yall care.. If not thas fine too..

Anyway R/r

Pace.


	4. A Chance Encounter

Chapter 4: (A Chance Encounter)

disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime I'm takin this shit from

review answers:

for starters I found a few ppl willing to host some of my pics so when the DBFS and BP posters are ready then I'll e mail it to them to host and put the link in my profile or something..

TankerMDK: ok.. Well... I have never seen that part.. To my knowledge the Yondaimes name is never actually mentioned. But ok.. There's certainly a possibility I could have missed it. I haven't seen every Naruto episode yet so.. I dunno.. I have, however, seen the tea country arc with Sasame's "Arashi nii-chan"

so as long as that is still there this fic will have him named Kayaku.. It's AU anyway.. So might as well..

As for Bleach and Hunter X Hunter I had a bit torrent but my computer didn't like it. I had to get a codec for each episode.. Too much trouble so I just deleted it.

Laser Crusader: lol... I'm glad u like my fic enough to pester me to update it.. Keep up the good work... as I'm a lazy mofa. For your questions I'll answer them in the fic as I get to them.

Anyway.. Work is gonna be a little better this week so I should have enough time to get out both a chapter of this and DBFS by next Sunday..

NOW.

The question is if I will use that time to write or play Full Metal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir... that is indeed the question..

Anyway.. I'll see what I can do on speed for ya..

Onikami no Shinobi: glad to hear such extravagant praise from you. Though the story has followed a different path from the ideas you originally suggested you seem to like the direction I'm taking it. Thank you for the praise and acknowledgment of my work.. Glad yall feelin it.

By the way.. The Samurai thing is a interesting idea.. I may be able to use that later on...

Shandrakor: No.. The Rasengan requires chakra control.. Naruto sucks at Chakra control.. The one time he used it to grate against the seal on his stomach it was flawed which is why it didn't burrow a hole through him and kill him instantly.

Naruto can now make something that looks similar to the Rasengan but it only has any stopping power when Kyuubi supercharges it with her chakra.

To all others thanku every review is read and appreciated..

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And now on with the story..

There had been no trace of Uzumaki Naruto for 2 days. The Villagers of Kohona seemed to be in wonderful spirits. Something had brightened their days and put a spring in their step.

The Hokage had not had any calls interrupting his work and thus he was actually able to finish it and get some well needed sleep. He assumed Naruto had locked himself in his house sulking.

The teachers had also noticed the absence of pranks on them. They were delighted. All in all the entire village of Kohona both villagers and shinobi either had no idea or didn't care that a 10 year old child had disappeared.

Finally the second day on the third moon cycle The Hokage called in a ninja to spy on him. Naruto had had long enough to sulk.. If he was to be a ninja he had to learn to hide his emotions and this most certainly included depression and disappointment.

The masked ninja poofed into his office. "You called Hokage-sama?"

"Kakashi... I want you check on the boy.. Make an assessment of his current living conditions and then report back to me.. If he doesn't pull out of this depression rut he's in I will have to speak with him myself."

The masked ANBU nodded and bowed before again vanishing in a poof of smoke.

Hatake Kakashi did not want to do this mission. He had tried many times to brinhg himself to see the boy. To speak with him. And yet every time he tried he was reminded of the time he saw the villagers beating him and he simply turned and left them to kill him.

He didn't know if the boy had seen him or not but if he had.. The masked Jounin did not want to face him. He was a ANBU captain... a Genin could do this mission. And yet he was nervous. There was always the possibility he might slip up and his presence be detected. And if that happened.. He would have to look into those eyes. The same eyes of his teacher..

No, he definitely was not happy about this.

He landed silently on the roof of the apartment and moved like a shadow across the walls. As he came to window he peered inside cloaking his presence in every way possible.

He saw nothing. He heard nothing.

Assuming the boy must be in another room perhaps sleeping, he moved to the other side of the apartment and saw that the entire structure was comprised of only two rooms. One corner was a bathroom. Sighing he decided to take the initiative. He silently opened the window and slid in. He stood up and began to search the house.

It was fairly plain. There were a few magazines strewn across the floor along with some wrappers and boxes of used Ramen cups. He was careful not to misplace a single piece of clutter. He lifted his mask a bit and revealed his Sharingan eye.

Using it to scan for his chakra signal he concluded with a few sweeps of the house than Naruto wasn't there.

This would need to be reported to the Hokage immediately.

He replaced his mask and jumped to the window sill before launching off in a blur of speed not bothering to close the window.

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Sarutobi took a deep breath as he placed his brush down and straightened his stack of completed papers. Just then Kakashi poofed into the room. The Hokage turned to look at the masked sihinobi.

"Hokage-sama.. The boy was not in his house.."

Sarutobi blinked in surprise. "This.. Is troubling.. I've already done a sweep of the village..how did the house look?"

Kakashi then explained in detail about the position of the Magazines and ramen cups. As he finished he saw the Hokage muttering to himself. He raised his head and tured his gaze on Kakashi "Take me there immediately."

The masked ninja nodded and immediately left followed by Sarutobi.

The two ninja arrived at Naruto's apartment wasting no time the two made there way to his number room and broke the locked door down. Sarutobi walked alongside Kakashi inspecting the house before finally he came to a specific spot. It was next to the bathroom. A small panel that came off revealing a small cramped space that Naruto would often hide in.

He opened it and sure enough a small envelope was inside. He took it out and opened it revealing a small short note addressed to him.

Reading it Sarutobi's face went pale.

"Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi handed the note to Kakashi.

_Oiy, Old Man... well if you're reading this.. You probably know that I'm not here_ _anymore.. But before you get ready to nag me to death when you find me.. You should know I'm not coming back.._

_Not to be rude or anything.. Well actually I don't really care if it's rude or not.. Anyway.. This village sucks. There's no way I can ever become a real ninja here.. No one will ever help me..all they ever do is hold me back and make fun of me.. _

_I'm sorry but I can't take it anymore.. So.. If I don't get eaten by a wild animal or something.. One day you'll hear my name mentioned in a "Modern Shinobi" article.. If you live that long that is..I mean you're pretty ancient.. _

_Anyway.. I guess this will probably be the last time I get to really talk to you or at least for a really long time so... well.. I guess.. Thanks for all the times you stuck up for me.. And.. Maybe if everyone here was more like you.. Things would be different.._

_Goodbye for good.._

_-Uzumaki Naruto (special limited addition autograph of the hyper ultra ninja legend)_

_P.S. You can't label me a missing ninja because I failed the test twice so technically I'm still a villager.. So no worrying about hunter ninja ha ha!_

_To all the villagers: heh, Later Wannabee's! _

Next to this was a scribble of a boy pulling down the bottom of his eye socket with his tongue sticking out.

He dropped the paper and fumbled with his mask letting it drop to the floor with a soft thud. Realization finally crept in. He had neglected confronting the boy. And now.. It was too late.

2 entire weeks had passed... and they had no idea where to even begin.

Still the Hokage narrowed his eyes. "Kakashi get your team ready I want evey shinobi we can spare on this mission.. Consider it a B rank that I will personally finance. "Find and return Uzumaki Naruto.. Alive."

Kakashi nodded. He vanished in a blur. The Hokage did the same.

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"What! Are you serious! We are talking about a 10 year old boy from our village!"

"He could be hurt of starving, kidnaped, beaten or worse!" Sarutobi was in absolute awe of the level of prejudice of the council.

The council looked at one another. "With all do respect Sarutobi.. The boy has been gone for over 2 weeks.. And he is not a ninja.. We have consented to allow a volunteer mission to go out since you are personally paying for it but.. It is not a matter we feel requires the level of attention that you seem to."

Sarutobi sighed in defeat. Naruto would not be found. It was hard to accept butthe fact was simple.. He was the only one who even cared.. Naruto was better off leaving. He turned around. "I see.." "Very well.. Should we find him I will send the check directly to the village fund myself." A few Council members murmured amongst themselves but Sarutobi had already left disgusted with the meeting.

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(meanwhile..)

"WOW KYUUBI! IT'S A REALLY GOOD VIEW FROM UP HERE!"

Kyuubi growled. **"Naruto... I have hearing amplified over a hundred times that of the greatest shinobi to live.. If you yell like that while on top of my head again.. I really will eat you!"**

Naruto laughed. "Ok.." he chuckled. "Bust still the view is really nice from up here.." Naruto and Kyuubi were traveling through a long rolling plain with mountains backdropping the scene. A clear blue sky overhead and a warm glow from the sun completed the pleasant atmosphere.

Kyuubi continued trudging along. They were miles from civilization so a 40 foot tall 9 tailed fox just strolling through the meadow with a little kid on her head wouldn't really be a problem with any humans.

Kyuubi still snickered about the comment Naruto had made when he'd first seen her human form. He'd asked her if she was an angel.

Her. The unstoppable killing machine Kyuubi the demon Fox an... angel..

Now THAT was funny..

Naruto was sitting on her head with his legs stretched out playing with his Rasengan creation. He suddenly spoke. "Hey.. Kyuubi.. No offense but why do you sound so different when you are in your Fox form?"

"I mean how am I supposed to know you were a girl with you having that deep rumbling voice all the time?"

The giant fox opened her jaws wide and yawned. **"It has to do with a few things.. The first is the height.. Because I spoke to you when I was much higher than you the sound was perceived by your ears as a lower frequency.." **

**The second is the room. The cage of your mindscape is a enclosed cramped space.. The sound echoes and reverberates off of the walls and ceiling, and the final is that as a fox my throat structure changes to produce the roars and growls that we communicate by in the demon world."**

Naruto blinked a few times. "Oh. I get it.."

Kyuubi sighed, "**No you don't.. You don't understand a word I just said.."**

Naruto laughed and put a hand behind his head. "Ah.. He he.. Nope."

Kyuubi shook her head which resulted in Naruto nearly falling off.

Naruto was quiet for a while after this.

15 minutes of silence later.

"Hey Kyuubi.."

"**What?"**

"What's a frequency?"

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Kyuubi told Naruto she wanted him to start practicing tree hopping. So she had taken her Human form and the two began moving through the forest. She slowed her pace considerably to accommodate Naruto but even still he was breaking a sweat just keeping up with her.

But he didn't complain. He knew that the training would make him stronger. One day he would surpass her and then when the time came that she need to be protected he would be there for her. This drove him on.

A pair of eyes were watching the two however. A rapidly narrowing pair of eyes. Next to him a grinning face revealed itself. "Well. Well.. It looks like we have three victims in the forest now.."

"I think we should give them a proper introduction.. Brother." "Yes." came the third reply.

Without a sound they were gone.

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Naruto and Kyuubi finally rested after Naruto's seemingly millionth fall from a tree branch. He was rubbing the lump on his head. Kyuubi sighed leaning agaisnt a tree. "You know.. You have a lot of chakra but you have almost no control... and your balance is horrible.."

Naruto jumped up and roared in indignation. "Hey.. What are you talking about you stupid fox why the hell did you pick a rainforest anyway! All the trees are slippery.. Of course I'm gonna fall!"

Kyuubi narrowed her eyes and growled. "Yeah.. A fall or two is understandable.. But every other step.. That's pathetic even for a puny human!"

The two were about to get into a heated mouth side pulling match when the fight was suddenly broken up by the rumbling of Naruto's stomach.

He fell to a sitting position against a tree. "Whatever.. I'm hungry make me a sandwich"

Kyuubi's left eye began to twitch dangerously. "What.."

Naruto sat up. "Well you're a girl right.. So you can cook stuff.." he reasoned.

Kyuubi blinked in surprise and shock. The boy still had no respect for her title. Kyuubi let out a growl that turned into a roar she had a vein bulging on her forehead. "Oh I'll make you a sandwich alright you little brat! HERE!"

She dropped her fist down on the back of his head sending him flying into the mud.

"There.. How about a muddy rainforest sandwich! Hmph.. Summon me again when you learn some respect for greater beings!" with that she eroded into a set of shimmering red sparkles and went into a swirling pattern following the design of the seal on his stomach before disappearing into it completely.

Naruto pushed himself up and rubbed the new lump on the back of his head. He looked around. Finally he sighed and got up to find something edible. Eventually he came to a tree with some fruit on it. It was too high to climb but he figured he could probably take some kunai out and knock something down.

He pulled out some throwing kunai. Blasting them at the branches he nearly face falted when the kunai didn't go anywhere near the branch. He continued pelting kuani at the tree trying to get some fruit but not one of them hit. He suddenly noticed a slight chuckling. A man stood in the corner of the clearing with an amused look on his face.

"Hey kid... you seem like you're a little lost there.. You want a tip?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Sorry but I make it my policy to trust my friends.. Not strangers..

The man raised an eyebrow before closing his eyes. "Well.. That's sound logic.. However.. You should realize something.."

"Every friend you'll ever have will have at one time been a stranger.."

"The only reason they're your friend now is because you took the risk to get to know them.."

Naruto blinked a few seconds before eyeing the man suspiciously. "Ok. What's your tip?"

The man chuckled. "Oh that.. Yeah this should help you out quite a bit.."

"Aim."

Naruto's face contorted in rage and he was about to launch a kunai at the chuckling man in front of him when his instincts kicked in and he moved to the left avoiding a stream of kunai that embedded themself in the dirt he had just been standing on. The man looked as a set of kunai blasted out at him but he casually dodged his head around them.

He seemed to be more interested in how the boy was faring than his own safety.

Naruto stood up and narrowed his eyes. "Hey.. Come on out.. Fight like a man.. Unless you're chicken!"

The man rolled his eyes. If the opponents they were facing were shinobi there was no way they would fall for such a ridiculous tactic.

Nonetheless a set of feet dropped to the ground. There stood a ninja with a headband bearing the image of hidden grass in a green camouflage vest and black pants tied by bandages together at the end. The man next to Naruto was wearing a gray cloak and a simple white shirt with baggy black pants and ninja sandals.

Naruto got into a fighting stance. The man simply stepped back and leaned against a tree. "I'll let you handle this since you both seem to be ninja.

The ninja looked at the orange jumpsuit clad boy in fro of him. "A ninja.. That wears orange.. You've got to be kidding me!" The grass ninja appeared to be around his early twenties. The man watching the fight against the tree was probably late twenties.

Naruto charged forward and punched but the grass ninja stopped the attack and drew him into a elbow strike. The Naruto he'd hit suddenly poofed into a log as behind him he heard the call..

"**Katon: Garyu no Suchin!"**

A spiraling flame of fire burst from the elaborate finger position over Naruto's mouth and headed straight at the grass ninja. The flame wasn't very damaging or destructive but it did burn the ninja giving Naruto the time to activate a doton.

"**Doton: Gomu Ikina Surin!**"

This technique, while not the most powerful of attacks created sinking mud underneath the ninja and trapped him in it. But the man who was watching Naruto's fight with mild amusement was now looking over to the left of Naruto. He narrowed his eyes as he absent mindedly caught the stream of kunai flashing at him from behind never turning his head from the left.

In one smooth motion he caught and twirled the kunai sending them back at their owner with several times the force they'd been thrown.

Naruto widened his eyes as the trapped ninja poofed into a tuft of grass and twigs.

He suddenly felt the presence behind him. 2 ninja with a chain were rushing at him he couldn't move. They were coming at him in feet by the milisecond. He tried to turn around to at least se them but they were already getting into position with one of them to his left coming low to the ground to spring up at him and the other above him. The plan was to ensnare him in the chain and decapitate him. The one in the air thew the scycled chain and it flew out to wrap around Naruto's neck.

He got out a quick desperate _Kyuubi help_ thought whisper but the said fox wasn't listening, still irritated about the cooking comment earlier.

Naruto's eyes went wide as the iris became small and the blue became darker. He entered his burst mode.

The burst mode was a psychological defense he had developed. By subconsciously manipulating his adrenaline output he increased his physical attributes as a result of living in constant risk of village beatings.

Before Kyuubi he had relied on this burst mode to save his life many times. To run just a little bit faster to be just a little stronger. People moving in normal speed moved more sluggishly and thus he could predict a few of their attacks.

But this heightened state could not be controlled or summoned as it was a psychological impulse that triggered it.

The chain came in to wrap around his neck but Naruto ducked down and dodged the chain as it flew past him. The second ninja so used to the combo landed and immediately pulled expecting the chain to be wrapped around the neck of their enemy.

Instead he found the pull yanked the scycled end back to him. The lack of resistance was not expected and it caused him to lose his balance meanwhile Naruto shot along close to the ground before whipping out two kunai and slashing the grass ninja as he was recovering from landing. He cried out as he was initially slashed but Naruto kept going slicing and slicing as torrents of blood shot out and the ninja dropped bleeding to the ground.

The off balance ninja regained his footing and threw the chan at Naruto who was busy slicing up his partner. Naruto just happened to move to the left at the correct time and the chain flew a mere centimeters away from him in front of his face.

He turned to look at the ninja who'd thrown the chain. He grabbed onto the restricting links as the ninja yanked it in for another throw. The pull dragged Naruto along and sent him flying into the air at speeds making him appear to blur off the chain.

In the air Naruto shot his two throwing kunai directly under him and the grass ninja with his hands preoccupied with getting the chains back to throwing position didn't see the kunai coming from straight above.

They lodged directly in his skull dropping him to the ground. Naruto now weaponless fell with a heavy thud in a puddle of rapidly deepening blood.

He was still breathing erratically and gasping. His heart was pumping several times faster. He slowly dropped from his burst state which to animals was survival mode and realized what he'd done.

He slowly tried to climb to his feet. He found his shoulder was dislocated from the fall. Suddenly a hand appeared in front of him. He reached out and grabbed it.

The man smirked. "See.. Aiming helps.."

He kicked the dead ninja's head and Naruto heard a sickening crunch. Then he leaned down and yanked the kunai out fo the top of the grass ninja's head. As he pulled them out a gush of blood and pieces of skull and brain came with them.

He held the kunai out to Naruto. "They were ninja who probably got kicked out of their village for something.. But they turned to robbery and murder to survive.. That is the path of some shinobi but those who choose this path must be prepared for the possibility of a end like this.."

"You should take these kunai.. They have tasted blood and thus they will now fly truer than any others you will have. For now that they have tasted it they seek it out every time you throw them."

Naruto's first impulse was to throw up. But then again. He was to be a ninja.. Ninja's killed and ninja's were killed. That was the life of a shinobi. He took the kunai and wiped them off. He used the other's blade and made a special scratch on each to signify them as the kunai he had first drawn killing blood with.

He looked at the man and sighed. "So who are you?" the man grinned. "I am called Shidousha" Naruto blinked in surprise. "Your parents named you leader.."

The man shook his head. "It's... a long story.. However you can call me Shido as most do.."

Naruto played with the name under his breath before noddig and saying. "Alright Shido.. I'm Naruto.. I'm going to become a great ninja one day and protect the ones precious to me.."

Shido looked at him carefully. "You seem to have great potential.. But you will never reach your true potential if you rely on others, Even the ones you hold precious, to drive you.. There is only one absolute drive to reach ones ultimate capacity."

"The will to live.. The need to survive is what saved you from those ninja.. Remember this Naruto.. The will to live is stronger than anything.. The outcome of every battle regardless of the factors therein will always boil down to one thing"

"Whoever has the greatest will to continue existing.. That will be the victor."

Naruto thought for a second but then shook his head. "Neh.. You're wrong."

"My precious person is what drives me.. And I would do anything for her.. Because when I fight for the one person who means more than anything to me.. I know I'll be able to defend her.."

Shido chuckled. "Well, it appears we have a difference of opinion." Naruto shook his head. "Nope.. I'm right and you're just too stubborn to see that you're wrong.. But it's alright I'll go along with you so I can try to explain it in a way you'll understand.."

Shido blinked in confusion. "Uh.. But.."

Naruto grinned closing his eyes to slits and lacing his fingers together behind his head.

"So where we goin.. I hope there's food there I'm starving!"

Shido chuckled in amusement. "Alright.. If you're going to insist on tagging along I suppose I could always use an extra pair of hands."

"Are you a missing ninja?"

Naruto shook his head, "No.. I couldn't pass the graduation exam so I quit and decided to leave the village to become a ninja on my own somewhere.."

Shido laughed. "Well then.. Since there's no one to deal with to take you along I suppose we'll just continue through the forest.."

Naruto nodded in excitement. He jumped around excited that he had someone to travel with and a high level ninja too if the kunai catching was any indication.

Shido on the other hand knew from the thunks he heard, the third and final ninja was still somewhere in the forest and wounded. He would not be a problem.. But these bandit groups tended to stick together... if they brought in more it would attract attention that he didn't want.

Best to keep an eye out for the wounded straggler so it doesn't come back to bite me..

He continued on in these thoughts as the energetic Naruto walked in front of him full of childlike energy despite his claims of near starvation. Kyuubi was still sulking in her cage. Naruto tried to go and talk to her but all he got was a single

"**I'm not talking to you." **

He shrugged and continued on next to Shido as they walked deeper into the forest.

Note: short chapter but I wanted to get to the more juicy parts of the fic soon so this was mainly an introduction chapter.

Meet Shido the one known only as Shidousha (Leader)

Is he some kind of General or paramilitant?

Is he a ninja at all?

Maybe he's a samurai.. Or a hand to hand master of a advanced karate school. Who knows...

Me.

But you don't.. But you will in a few chapters so don't bake your noodle too long.

Anyway.. Again this chapter short but more coming soon.. Hopefully.

R/r

Pace.


	5. Secrets Revealed!

Chapter: 5 (Secrets Revealed!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime or game I'm takin this shit from

basic answers.. Well.. Shido will be revealed in this chapter. I got some interesting suggestions and I'm going to look into some of them for sure..

Anyway.. This has taken awhile to get out and for various reasons... you can see more on this and the reasoning for it in a authors note at the end of the chapter..

And now on with the story...

Naruto shoveled in another glob of noodles with his chopsticks as he emphatically described his many exploits as an academy student.

Shido listened with a raised eyebrow to the energetic boy in front of him.

He noticed the absence of others in his many tales.

"-nd so I ducked around the alley and pressed up against the walls until the stupid Chuunin guys ran right past me.. Ha ha what a buncha losers huh!"

Shido took a sip from his sake. "Yeah.. They don't sound like they're the sharpest tacks in the box.. But I'm curious.. You pulled all this off alone?" "You'd think to actually do that much you'd need help?"

Naruto looked down sighing. "Well, I only have one real friend.." Shido nodded taking on a strange, distant look in his eye. "You know kid.. You're lucky.."

Naruto looked at him with surprise.

Shido simply chuckled. "Friends are not reliable in all situations.. Too many people get caught up in their feelings or emotions.. This leads to false dependence on others.. And when they finally see at the very end that the only one there is themselves.. It's often too late.."

Naruto shrugged scratching his head. "Well, that's a lot of thinking for one night." Then he seemed to think of something widening his eyes and grinning. "Hey Shido!"

The man turned to look at him. "What?"

"Can I have some more Ramen? I can't think on an empty stomach.."

Shido turned his head to view the 3 stacks of bowls already piled on the table.

He blinked. "You're kidding.."

Naruto shook his head.. "No no.. I need lots of energy so I can train tonight and then some before breakfast!"

Shido shook his head. 'Train huh."

Naruto nodded. Vigorously.

Finally sighing in defeat Shido pulled out a set of bills and payed for yet another 3 bowels. Naruto beamed and bowed in gratitude.

Shido watched the boy eat some before turning his gaze to the area behind him. He was a bit irritated. The last bandit had not been found. This could prove to be a rather bothersome thorn if he made it to the local Yakuza or another syndicate.

Still, there was a good chance he had already bled to death.. He had, after all, thrown the kunai back with moderate force. It wasn't unreasonable to assume he was mortally wounded.

But Shido had not risen to where he was by being naive. He was well aware of the possibilities. This was what irritated him. He knew that if the bandit had escaped he would have to deal with the unit sent to kill him for embarrassing their syndicate.

He sighed. And if he wiped out an entire set of Yakuza.. The press would be on it in an instant.. And there goes his vacation.

He took a long gulp of his drink before throwing down some bills to serve as a tip. "Come on, let's go.. I want to see how you 'train'.."

Naruto picked up the bowl and gulped down the remainder of the last bowl as a little dribbled down his chin.

Shido had already started walking off and Naruto had to race to catch up with him.

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Naruto somersaulted through the air and landed in a crouch before jumping up and delivering a front snap kick before landing and throwing a pretend enemy down in a take down and rolling on top of them in a clumsy tackle.

He rose up and threw a few mock punches before blocking an imaginary punch and dropping down to sweep. Shido stood there with his arms folded blinking in disbelief. He had seen the boy take out two Chuunin with such deadly precision even he had been impressed.

But to call what he was now seeing Taijutsu would be a crime to every ninja in the world.

He shook his head as the boy flashed up a high kick and lost his balance slipping and falling on his ass. Naruto rolled to the side and rose up in an uppercut then he stopped and drew back his arm in a slap.

Shido finally, unable to take anymore, reached out and helped the boy up.

"You know.. I'm going to be honest with ya kid.."

"You have almost no hand to hand skills.."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

Shido shook his head.. "No.. I mean it.. Seriously.. I think a 4 year old could beat you hand to hand.."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and ground his foot into the ground. "Oh yeah?"

Shido looked at the angered boy in humor. "Yeah.. Of course if you have a different opinion feel free to come embarrass yourself further." He stood with his arms folded.

Naruto growled. 'Fine.. We'll see how you smirk with a busted face ya geezer!"

Shido raised an eyebrow at that comment. Where he was from people didn't call him that.. They.. Simply didn't call him that."

Naruto charged in low to the ground and threw a punch right at Shido's face. To his surprise the man simply moved to the right letting the fist slide by harmlessly. Shido stuck a foot out and tripped him causing Naruto to fall on his face. He got up and rolled to the side expecting an attack.

Shido simply stood there watching him with an amused look. This time Naruto ran in and jumped up letting his leg whip around in a jump kick. Shido stood stationary and simply lowered his head moving under the kick. Naruto landed and began flashing a set of wild punches out. Shido doubted a single one would have damages him more than a flea bite but he dodged around them effortlessly.

Naruto was getting pissed. Not only was he dodging all of his attacks and not attacking back.. He was doing it without ever moving from where he was standing and without his arms.

Naruto went for a leg tackle and found the legs to disappear in front of his eyes. He crashed into the ground and rolled to a sitting position. In back from where he had been standing he heard a slight amused chuckle.

Naruto turned around and scrunched up his face. "Why are you just standing there.. Do something so I can counter it!"

Shido looked at the boy with an amused look. " Oh.. You want me to attack..."

He held up two fingers. He smirked. "Alright.. Get ready kid.. We'll see how you feel about that after this.." He pointed the two fingers out and flicked the air.

Naruto blinked in confusion right before he felt an intense air around him and then... The shockwave hit him.

He felt his body being thrown into the air and twisted as it was blasted backwards from the incredible blast of air created by the flick. Naruto corkscrewed through the air before finally landing skidding along at least 5 feet from where he'd been standing.

He slowly rose with a look of amazed fury at Shido who had again folded his arms.

"You know kid.. I've changed my mind.. I don't think a 4 year old could beat you.. A 3 year old would probably be more than enough.. He he.."

Naruto widened his eyes as fury poured through him. "Ok.. Wise ass... you want a war.. Ill give you a war!"

Naruto shot his hands out in a pattern of circular motion.

Shido noted the rise in chakra and raised his eyebrow.

Naruto continued his rotation and a ball of swirling chakra began to form visible to the naked eye.

Shido widened his eyes dropping his arms to his sides. "W-what! That technique.. It.. It's!"

Naruto charged forward his the ball still spinning in his hands and he jumped up at the last second to deliver the attack straight down on Shido.

The powerful man narrowed his eyes and jumped up dodging the attack. Most likely he could have countered or stopped it completely but he wanted to see how powerful a version of the attack the boy had mastered.

Naruto hit the ground in seeming slow motion. Then suddenly the earth cracked out in different directions and a small crater was immediately imprinted on the earth as the spinning ball of chakra drilled into the ground shooting rocks up from around it.

Shido had blasted into the air and as he was upside down preparing to land at a safe distance he felt the small winds from the attacks impact blowing on his clothes. He landed a good 7 feet away as Naruto attack finally died down leaving about a inch deep crater in the ground around him.

He shakily stood up. He turned around and looked at Shido with a look of pure determination. He was drained Shido could see that.

Not surprisingly.

That attack had to be draining especially for a failed academy student. But to his amazement the boy threw his hands out and began gathering his chakra again. And again the hum of the swirling ball reached his ears.

_This is insane.. Who the hell is this kid! To make a Rasengan even as weak as that was at his level is incredible, but to make another one after draining his entire supply.. What is he made of!_

Naruto grinned through heavy lidded eyes and charged forward with his attack blazing he pulled back and launched the ball of swirling power right at Shido this time he had to experience it's power himself.

He reached out and caught it in his palm fighting against the drilling force of the ball. He noticed that this Rasengan was unlike the other in that instead of blue it was a yellowish golden.He continued gripping tighter until the ball finally expended it's power and died down leaving Shido's right palm slightly burned.

He looked down at it in amazement. Then he turned to look at the boy who'd thrown it and realized that the winds from the clash of energies that were created when he caught it must have knocked him back as he was laying sprawled out on the ground unable to move.

He slowly walked over to the boy and kneeled down. He looked over the unconscious face frozen in a look of determination.

He chuckled. "The kid has heart.. He could have become a powerful shinobi... Kohona has to be the stupidest village in the fire country.. If not the world.."

He picked the boy up and slung him over his shoulder and walked off in the direction of the inn.

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The moon shone with a bright glow as the cool air blew through the field. Suddenly, a crow flew across the view of the moon.

"Hmmm.. It seems my benefactor would like to speak with me.. A pity.. I would have enjoyed carving you out.." With a flash of reflective light the raven haired man sheathed his blade and turned around to walk off.

He slowly turned around and pointed his finger outward with a arrogant smirk. "However... fate has already marked this night, and mark my words Ruroni.. We will meet again.." With this he turned around and slowly walked off into the distance.

The other man slowly slid his steel blade back into it's sheath. Both knew that neither would strike the other behind the back as both were Samurai of the old way. The code of Bushido was law to them.

The white haired man sighed muttering to himself. "Only a few hours in this area and already I'm getting attacked..."

He picked up his black cloak with the insignia of his Samurai clan and draped it over his shoulders along with his pointed straw hat and he turned to the west and continued on his way into town.

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Naruto woke up about seven. He sat up and yawned. He turned to see that he was lying in a small inn room. The bed was small and the room was simple but it did have a t.v. He grabbed the remote and flicked it on flashing through some of the channels. Eventually he came across what looked like a fight scene.

As it turned out it was "The Unlucky Princess part 2" Naruto was entertained by the adventures of Princess Fuun for awhile until the movie finally ended. When he turned around he saw Shido was finally up.

The man yawned and pushed his empty bowl aside. He had ordered room service for breakfast.

Naruto was instantly at his side. "Oh breakfast!"

Shido looked at him and rolled his eyes. "Do ever have enough to eat?"

Naruto closed his eyes to slits and frowned. "No.. I'm a growing kid.. I need nutrition.."

Shido just threw him a slip of paper with the reception number on it. He took it and immediately went to the phone. After another 10 minutes he was sitting there alongside Shido sucking in the assorted foods like a vacuum cleaner.

Shido looked at him. "So.. What was that attack you came at me with last night?" Naruto blinked in confusion, then seemingly remembering he grinned. "I dunno.. It's a special move I learned that I just call the spiral ball.."

Shido looked at him strangely. "Really.. Where did you learn it?"

Naruto slurped up the last of his noodles and moved on to the shrimp. "Well.. My friend taught it to me as a birthday gift.."

Shido raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting.. I've seen the technique before.. From a very powerful ninja.."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yondaime-baka.. right?'

This took Shido by surprise. _So.. He hates the legendary hero of Kohona.. How intriguing.._

Naruto smiled. "But the second one I hit you with is a move I made from it. Shido looked up in interest remembering it as a different color. "Really.. What?"

Naruto lifted his head proudly. "I call it the stamina swirling ball.. Cause I use my actual stamina instead of chakra to make it.."

Shido widened his eyes. _Interesting.. That's a dangerous thing to do and yet he has so much of it he's completely recharged by only one night of sleep.._

Naruto looked at him with his eyes still in slits. "Hey.. Shido.. How did you do that super speed thing.. I couldn't touch you."

Shido laughed. "Well.. One learns to move on a much higher level of speed in everything they do.. When you do this normal time will seem slow motion to you.. And then when you move fast it will appear abnormally fast to the outside eye.."

Naruto contemplated this. "So how do I learn to do that?"

Shido looked at him with a smirk. "Well.. There are training exercises but.."

Naruto cut him off. "Oiy teach me! teach me!"

Shido looked at him with a amused glance. Naruto finally stopped begging and switched questions. 'What is it.. I bet I can do it no problem!"

Shido closed his eyes. "Survival training."

Naruto stopped jumping and looked at him incredulously. "What.. That's all.. Awww.. We already did that stuff in the academy.. They leave us out there in the woods and we have survive to our own... how's that gonna make me faster?"

Shido shook his head slowly. "This is... not like your other training..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.. What.. Then what kind of training is it?"

Shido began to chuckle. "If you really want to know come to the east clearing this afternoon at two o clock.. Oh and make sure you skip lunch..otherwise, you'll puke.."

With that he exited the room and headed off to the spa. Naruto fanned himself and decided that he could go without his jacket for today. So he went out in just his orange pants and his black shirt.

As he stepped outside the inn he saw the village was huge. He also noticed the absence of glares and hate filled mutters as he walked by. Even when he bumped into a woman walking by as she talked on her cell phone she merely shook it off and continued talking. He found himself lost in the great expanse of the village.

He rounded another corner and found a interesting area. A plaza. And in it there was a set of stores including several clothing stores.

He spotted one called ShinobiWear and decided to check it out. Inside were all the latest ninja fashions for both guys and girls. Naruto looked at all the different outfits and was surprised when a sales clerk came over and asked if he needed any help?

Back in Kohona being discovered in a store would mean either a beating before being thrown out or a long chase in which he only sometimes escaped his pursuers.

Naruto went over the various styles and colors and was pretty unanimous in his opinion of them.

They all sucked. Orange ruled!

Exiting the store he spotted a candy shop across the street. He didn't have much money, but then again he hadn't had the opportunity to Window Shop for awhile. He walked in and began looking over the assortment of sweets and desserts.

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The white haired man was sitting down with a sword strapped in his sash. He sat back and hiccuped. He was totally wasted. "H-hey.. Can I uh.. hiccup have another uh.. bottle?"

The serving maid looked at him uncertainly. Um.. Sir.. I think you've had enough for a little while.."

The white haired man laughed. "W-what.. Are you talking hiccup about.. I-I'm not drunk yet.. It's only been like. Uh..." He held up his hands to count his fingers. "Let's see.. Uh one.. two.. um four.. seven.. three.. uh.." Just then a man walked swaggering into the bar. Next to him were two men strapped with swords.

Gasps of surprise and murmurs of "Yakuza were heard.."

The white haired man turned around in his seat.

The arrogant man smirked and kicked a waiting tray off its stand watching as the food splattered on the ground. "Now.. All of you listen up! We are looking for a wise ass punk in this shithole town of yours.. As soon as we find him we'll be out of your hair.. But until then.. We'll enjoy your.. 'hospitality'.. Right.."

He grabbed the serving maid next to him by the chin and pulled her into a forced kiss. His guards laughed with him as he threw her to the floor and ordered her to bring him some food.

The white haired man turned around in his seat determined not to make any more trouble than he already had. Of course, the Yakuza leader walked right over to him and demanded that he move as he wanted that seat.

Sighing, the man complied and as he moved the leader caught sight of his sword. He ordered him to take it out so he could see the value of the weapon saying he was a sword collector. The Ruroni closed his eyes and removed his sheathed sword from his sash.

After viewing the hilt design the Yakuza leader looked at the man grinning. With a snort he demanded that he hand over his sword as tribute to the Yakuza in exchange for his life.

This pushed the Ruroni too far. "I refuse."

The Yakuzu leader slowly turned around with his icy glare leveled on the Samurai. "What did you just say?"

The Samurai's own eyes took on a unnatural glow. "I believe I made myself clear."

All around the bar people began moving to give the 4 men in conflict some room.

The leader looked back to his guards and they immediately drew their swords as one of them charged the lone Ruroni.

He placed his thumb under the guard of his sword and flicked upward raising the blade up out of the sheath blocking the horizontal slice. The partly exposed blade fell back in the sheathe as the man who he had blocked stumbled backwards unprepared for the resistance in his slice.

Another came in with a vertical downward slash. The Ruroni positioned his sheathe in front of him horizontally and again flicked a part of his blade out to block the slice.

The first guard had moved around him and was now coming in for a arching diagonal slash when the Ruroni positioned his sheath over his shoulder and flicked the guard sending the hilt back into the oncoming Yakuza's throat stopping him dead in his tracks. The blade shot back into the sheathe and the Ruroni twirled the sheathed weapon around and beat the stunned Yakuza behind him in the back of the head with the lower half.

This sent him flying into a front snap kick which leveled him.

The Yakuza leader narrowed his eyes. "Oh.. A tough guy huh.." "Get him!"

The second Yakuza came charging at him and he jumped up to deliver a slash when the Ruroni slammed his sheath into the shoulder of the attacking man driving him back into the ground. As he was getting back up the Ruroni beat him repeatedly in different places with the sheathed weapon dropping him crumpled to the ground..

The Yakuza leader was looking into the yellow eyes of the swordsman . "W-what.. You haven't even used your sword yet!"

The Ruroni looked at him as he backed him closer and closer to the door. "No.. You are not worthy to see my blade.. But make no mistake the result will remain the same."

The Yakuza continued backing up until he hit something solid. He was unable to turn around and check to see what it was before he opened his mouth coughing up blood. As he crumpled to the floor his hand began shaking spasmodically.

He fell face first with a knife buried to the hilt in his back.

As he fell a group of men were revealed behind him.

"For dishonoring us with your pathetic defeat.. You will die like the worm you are."

Another came up close to him his face scrunched in disgust. "Hmph.. 3 Yakuza against one Ruroni.. what weaklings."

The man looked at them and narrowed his eyes. "For this battle.. I may have to use my sword."

The Yakuza looked at him and laughed. "Use your sword?" "Ha.. Do you have any idea what you're saying you drunken fool.. You're facing 8 of us this time and we're not weaklings like those 3 were.. You, my friend, are about as dead as they get!"

The Ruroni narrowed his yellow eyes and flicked his guard up exposing an inch of the blade, and taking a stance with his hand resting on the hilt, prepared to draw it.. "If you are certain of you victory then come.."

"We shall see who it is that walks away from this alive."

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Naruto was browsing through some of the sour gummy worms when he came across a small stand that had free samples. He happily reached his hand in and took a hand full before rushing to the bathroom to eat them.

As he walked in he made sure no one else was there. Seeing that he was alone he popped in a malt ball and began chewing the caramel filling. He swallowed it popped in another just as the bathroom wall exploded outward. Naruto was so caught by surprise he swallowed the malt ball and almost choked on it as he beat his chest.

4 men in blue kimono's blasted out of the smoke. Along with them a set of small craters began materializing in a zig zag pattern before some of the Yakuza jumped off a stall and tried to slice the invisible opponent. The craters suddenly began appearing on the walls and they traveled up and onto the ceiling.

As the superfast craters continued traveling along the wall they tore through pictures and a window leading down to the toilet and as soon as they hit it, it exploded leaving only a pipe sticking up with water shooting up from it. The craters continued traveling the across the floor and up the walls and ceiling tearing through the wood and plaster.

Naruto blinked in confusion as the men were backed up as they dropped 2 at a time from a set of slices from a seemingly invisible blade.

The craters chased the men out the door as they shot along the ceiling it exploded through the top of the door frame.

Naruto widened his eyes as he saw the set of craters now run along the ground in circles around a set of Yakuza trapped in the middle. The door suddenly busted open and more Yakuza poured in.

They were bloodthirsty so they started slicing at anything they could.

Naruto seeing this narrowed his eyes and formed a set of seals before calling out his jutsu.

"**Suiton Gobufuen Maka no jutsu!"**

The water behind him from the pipe sticking up from the destroyed toilet suddenly shot up and flowed onto the floor. Moving across the floor like a small wave it distracted the Yakuza while he charged in and threw a kunai. It hit the Yakuza in the back and he turned around to be sliced by an invisible blade. The set of craters continued blasting across the floor now adding splashes to the mix before finally kicking up a large could of dust and water spray as they stopped.

Through the dust a silhouette of a man standing began to take form. Finally the man was revealed to be a white haired man with piercing golden yellow eyes wearing a white and blue kimono top with a red sash and a katana strapped in. He had black baggy pants and a set of black footings partially submerged in the now soaked floor.

He slowly resheathed his weapon and turned to look at Naruto.

"Shinobi.." he muttered.

He nodded to him. "Thank you for your assistance.."

Naruto didn't get a chance to say anything else as the man jumped out of the shattered window and vanished over a roof top. Naruto then took a look around and noticed the demolished store littered with the corpses of dead Yakuza.

He cringed and decided it was more conductive to his continued survival if he got out of there before they came to do damage assessment.

He jumped out and vanished over the roof tops in the opposite direction as the Samurai.

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Naruto slowly walked toward the center of the east clearing. "Shido.. You here?'

There was only silence. Naruto sighed. Or at least he tried to. As he sucked in breath to release in a sigh Shido materialized in front of him and embedded his elbow in Naruto's stomach. The air came out in a large gasp as a good amount of spittle and some blood also flew out.

Naruto's eyes went wide as Shido began to speak.

He retracted his elbow. "The test today is simple Naruto.. Survival Training.. Just as the name implies to pass this test you have only to do one thing.. Survive for 2 hours... Also.. I hope you haven't eaten anything.. Because as I said..." He shot his knee up into his gut causing Naruto to gasp a few times before throwing up his partly digested candy remains.

Shido chuckled. "You'll puke."

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The man was thrown against the wall and landed with a loud crash. "You failed! One man defeated 2 of my Yakuza sets!"

"One Ruroni Samurai!" the large man raised his fist to strike the messenger again when the mercenary next to him sighed.

"I believe.. I may know the man who did this.."

"If I am correct in my guess of who we're talking about.. He is a powerful foe.."

"He is known as Tatsumaki (The Tornado) he was a legendary high level assassin of the 3 nation War and the Bakin-hon Revoloution.. The best of the imperial forces actually.."

"One day he was set up on an assassination mission... the government had decided that he'd outlived his usefulness and needed to be removed so they set him up.." "His assassination mission caused him to kill the target in front of the man's son and when the boy saw this he charged him blindly."

"After striking the boy down he came to the realization of what he had done.."

Legend has it he left his legendary blade said to be enchanted stuck in the earth of the boy's grave as a testament to his withdrawal from the way of the killer."

"According to plan he was supposed to be executed for the attack on an innocent man as soon as he reported in.. But he never did.. In fact the time came when they needed his services and they tried to find him but they were unable to find even a trace of him." "And, becoming a legend he was never seen again."

"That's the official story.. But.. There are reports.. Of sightings all across the Kyosho region.. Even as far as the Water Country of Shinobi power."

"It appears he became somewhat of a wanderer.. He helps those he happens to come across if he feels that the cause is just.." "Last night.. I had the privilege of running in to him.. I can personally attest to the fact that he has lost none of his skill as a swordsman"

The Raven haired man smiled. "I can defeat him but he is going to cost you much more than a mere traveling martial artist and a boy.."

"To do both I will require 500 thousand.."

The leader slumped down in his chair stroking his chin in thought. "Hmph.. Since when did we lose such control of the region.. First we have our alliance with the forest bandits severed by some stupid ninja brat.. And now some legendary Samurai wants some..."

"Who are you to make me believe you can defeat such a man?"

The raven ahired man smiled. "I am Gen'ei (The Phantom) The style of Tatsumaki employs incredible speed that tears his surroundings apart as a psychological deterrent."

"For example.. He moves as such speeds that simply running on the ground will cause it to crack and form craters or explosions.. Anything that gets in his way is torn apart.."

"And to make him even more deadly, when he is moving at such speeds he is encased in a barrier of air, once inside the incredible wind and sheer destructive force make it nearly impossible to duel.."

The king raised an eyebrow. "And how do you intend to defeat this?"

Gen'ei smiled. "Simple. Change the method of combat..."

"You see out styles use completely different methods of speed.. I am known as the phantom.. Once I move I too travel at speeds beyond the capability of seeing..but.. I have trained myself to be completely silent."

When facing the Tatsuamki he is a deadly force but becuase he is so destructive.. One always knows where he is.. When facing me you face an opponent you can neither see nor hear.. The art of the shadow step.. A ninja technique, was modified by my clan to become the phantom blade.."

"So you see to defeat Tatsumaki one needs to do two things.. Have speed to match his own, and simply observe his pattern of movement and counter it.."

"Once he is forced to defend and drops his hurricane barrier I will vanish from sight."

"And this blade.."

Gen'ei drew his silvery blade with a cool grate of metal on the sheathe.

"Will be the last thing they ever see."

The leader's smile widened.

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Naruto moved to the right and ducked under another kunai blasting straight at him.

Panting he jumped high into the air and launched his own kunai. To his surprise they hit the kuani coming at him and stopped them both. They dropped with a clang to the ground. Shido was gone. He had vanished and was pelting deadly knives at Naruto from all around him. There were also traps. A lot of traps.

Shido was skilled in not only kunai but throwing knives, sling shots, flaming arrows needles, and more.."

Naruto was already moving slower because of the numbing poison arrows he'd been blind sided by in the back.

Shido had explained bey simply what he kneeded to do and how it would help him.

(Flashback)

"It's simple actually.. In order to survive you will have to force your body to move faster than the things coming to kill you.. If you pass you get to continue living.. If you fail.. You die.."

"So you see.. This is the perfect and quite frankly the fastest way to improve your skills.. And assess your full capacity."

(End flashback)

Naruto shook his head as Shido materialized in front of him and struck a lighting fast 4 hit combo sending Naruto flying into the air. Things seemed to slow down when he was attacked by Shido.. Like his movement was in slow motion while Shido moved much faster..

Naruto suddenly felt the dropping elbow of Shido embed into his solar plexus dropping him with a loud thud into the ground. He bounced back up a bit which Shido used to kick him in the side. This sent him flying into a tree. Naruto pushed his pain back and twisted so that he was able to use his right foot to push off the tree and land on the branch.

Wasting no time he began running away using the trees for cover. Behind him Shido smirked before casually walking off into another set of trees.

Naruto was running.. He was running hard. And he was hurt. He estimated at least a broken rib and his solar plexus had to be jelly by now.. After all the abuse Shido had been inflicting on it.. He was actually glad he hadn't ate lunch.. If so he'd still be puking..

He knew shido was still behind him and the damn trapos he'd set up.. Not a single one of them besides the numbing needles were non lethal.. Ever single thing he'd set up would kill him if he made a wrong move..

Naruto narrowed his eyes.. "Well, I'll just have to pass this thing by not dying."

He jumped down from the branch just as it was bombarded with snakes a few dropped down on him and Naruto whipped some kunai out and threw them upwards slicing straight through the snakes. He jumped back and avoided a pitfall. A tree suddenly came crashing down on him.

A soft poof was heard. As the body turned to smoke. He was now breathing hard. His heart was going much faster. He was on the verge of burst mode now.

Shido stood there leaning against a tree while he watched the battered and bloody boy dodge trap after trap. He raised an eyebrow.. "Kage Bunshin.. That's a Jounin level shinobi technique.. This kid gets more and more interesting." he muttered.

Naruto ran at a dead sprint ignoring the dull throbbing pain of his injuries.. Though they were already healing."

He suddenly stopped running and stood still. He'd seen the air in front of him suddenly bend. Something wasn't right. It was only a small sliver of movement and it was fine now but something wasn't right.

He decided to go on gut instinct and turned to run in another direction.

Shido walked out from the shrubbery with a smirk on his face. He waved his hand in front of the air and the continued set of trees vanished as the gen-jutsu illusion was dispelled revealing a deep ravine."

The man turned to look in the direction of the young boy. He panned his head around before sensing his chakra flow. In a small gust of air he vanished.

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Kyuubi yawned. She was bored.

She hadn't talked to Naruto for at least 3 days.

She sighed. She had really expected him to come apologize.. But then again he was only 10.. Maybe she had overreacted a little bit...

Looked out into the blank void. The seal had been modified a lot. The main difference was the absence of her cage. Though she couldn't go anywhere else the seal itself seemed to be nothing but an endless void of black.

She pouted. **"Hmph.. Could it kill him to think up some lights for the place.."**

She had wondered.. If the seal had been broken and this was technically now his blank mind.. Could he change the environment by simply thinking it?

She decided to go and ask him about it.. After all she hadn't talked to him for over 3 days.. Then again a new though crossed her mind.

She hadn't technically checked up on him in over 3 days.. She had no idea what or how he was doing.. For all she knew he was still wandering around in the cold rainforest..

She blinked a few times at her own stupidity before bolting full stride for the edge of the seal where she could communicate to him through the mind.

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Naruto saw a light finally at the end of the set of trees.

He bounded for it as hard as he could sprint and as he neared it the light got bigger and bigger until finally he crossed over through the set of trees and right into...

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Kyuubi made the connection to see through Naruto's eyes and she saw a bright light before exiting some sort of forest and slamming right into a fist!

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Naruto sat up as he turned to see a confused man and a young girl tied up blinking.

The man's look went from confusion to anger as he lifted Naruto up wy his black shirt. "Why you little punk.. How dare you get in the way !"

Naruto turned to look at the girl and realized that the punch he'd caught was meant for her. He'd unknowingly saved her.. At least for the time being.

Naruto never got a chance to say anything as he was back fisted into a tree and slid to the ground.

The man now drew his sword and riased it up. "Now... since your savior neglected to come you get to pay the price!"

He was about to drop the sword when suddenly a stream of air blasted upward from a streak in the ground.

This caught him in it and he was knocked off his fet dropping the sword.

Naruto grabbed the Katanna and cut the ropes on the girls wrists loose before turning to see a figure walking through the kicked up dust.

He widened his eyes in realization. "You!"

The samurai turned to look at him and nodded with a raised eyebrow. "So.. The shinobi again.. It appears I am in your debt yet again young one.."

Suddenly a chuckling was heard. The gates to the inn opened wide as several sets of Yakuza poured in and Tatsumaki simply panned his head around looking at them all.

Suddenly behind him he felt a tremendous swordsmen spirit.

Turning he found himself face to face with the long raven haired man again. "I told you.. Tatsumaki.. We would meet again."

Tatsumaki nodded flicking his guard up and exposing an inch of his blade.

"Indeed.. Gen'ei."

The Yakuza smirked. "And.. Would you look at this.. How lucky for us that the very same brat we're looking for would be here too.. We get to kill 2 birds with one stone.."

Suddenly a soft chuckling was heard to the left.

Shido smiled as he calmly walked out of the woods.

"I think you may need a bigger rock."

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Kyuubi was blinking in utter confusion.. She was completely lost. Who were these people?

She entered his mind and projected a mental message to Naruto.

The response was instantaneous. "Kyuubi! Oh damn am I glad to see you.. I'm kinda in trouble I might need some help in this one.."

Kyuubi nodded before sending a surge of chakra through the seal.

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Naruto was dodging katanna blades left and right. Suddenly a samurai caught him in his already damaged ribs. He cried out in pain before being knocked to the side. Another Yakuza was coming in to slice him when Shido appeared in front of the man and gripped his wrist disarming him.

Jow with the katanna in hand he decapitated the Yakuza before throwing the sword at another coming from the left. The Yakuza moved around it and sliced out intending to cleave Shido in two.

Shido moved around the slice and sliced down with two fingers. The force of his motion literally split the Yakuza in half.

Next to him Naruto was slowly rising with a strange glow emitting from his body. Shido raised an eyebrow. This wasn't... natural.

The Yakuza stopped their charge as they too sensed the unnatural chakra the boy was emitting. He slowly lifted his head and narrowed his now crimson eyes as a surge of red chakra surrounded him. Tendrils from him whipped off and struck the ground.

He suddenly snapped it all the way up and with his shoulders dropped he rose up on the ground balancing on the balls of his feet. He swung back and forth before letting out a bestial yell and charging forward. The katanna's could do no damage against him. He moved through the assembled gangsters like they were rice paper.

His fingers elongated to claws as he charged forward at inhuman speeds and launched up to slice through the shocked Yakuza.

The upper torso's were torn open with jagged incisions as he pushed through them. One of them swung a sword behind him and lodged their blade into his back. He simply turned around and pushed both arms out to the side as the sword shot out of his back. He grabbed the one who'd sliced now weaponless by the upper kimono and slammed him into the ground. He straddled him and began to punch repeatedly with tremendous power. He roared with each monstrous blow as the ground caved in forming a larger and larger crater with each blow.

Near him Shido was standing utterly speechless. He'd thought the boy was impressive before.. But this..

To the left Tatsumaki was completely focused on the movement of Gen'ei.

Suddenly the white haired samurai snorted in impatience. "Fine.. If you won't attack then I'll start us off!"

He blasted off to the side before vanishing. No more than a second later small craters began exploding around Gen'ei in a circle. The raven haired man smiled. "Trying to draw me into your fighting area.. I don't think so!"

He jumped up into the air and vanished.

The set of craters suddenly shot along the ground until hitting a tree and then shooting up it.

A bright flash and a clang of two steels blades resounded as the two Samurai were pressed against each other on the trunk of the tree. They were not using chakra but the pure force of their clash was pushing their sandaled feet into the bark of the tree keeping them stationary.

The bark suddenly began to give way as they pushed off one another sending both of them streaking back before jumping off and slashing. The blades clashed together again sending a slight set of sparks at one another. The two samurai jumped off and twisted.

As one of them landed he shot off in a blur of motion sending small craters along the ground. The other seemed to vanish in a small cloud of dust.

The set of craters seemed to move around in a strange pattern before stopping as the white haired Samurai stormed and jumped straight up before curling into a blackflip as the raven haired Gen'ei sliced in a horizontal slice that created a shockwave of air that left a sizeable dent in the trunk of a nearby tree. Frowning Gen'ei jumped up following the pattern Tatsumaki had previously made. He sliced down vertically this time and Tatsumaki turned to the left to avoid the slash.

As they landed Tatsumaki twisted and sliced in an unbroken arc. Gen'ei leaned back under it and slammed his sword into the ground behind him before flipping back and landing crouched on the tip of the hilt.

After missing the slice Tatsumaki continued the spiral slice crouching down expecting to cut the recovering Gen'ei at the legs but instead he found the blade that Gen'ei had slammed into the ground to block him.

His force momentarily stopped Tatsumaki was unable to dodge the double barrel punch Gen'ei released while still crouched on the tip of his blade. (Btw: this position is sometimes used by Yoshimitsu in Tekken and Soul Calibur)

Tatsumaki was pushed back sending him skidding on the balls of his feet before Gen'ei leaped off his sword and delivered a spinning wheel kick sending a Yakuza coming in to take out the off guard Tatsumaki flying to the ground.

Geb'ei landed next to his sword before grabbing the hilt and yanking it up and back sending a streaming blast of air and gravel traveling straight at the recovering Tatsumaki. The blast hit him dead on kicking up a large amount of dust and gravel.

He turned to look at the other Yakuza who had halted their attack.

He narrowed his eyes. "Stay out of this Yakuza! This is a fight between two Samurai of the old code.. We will fight according to our honor!"

Out of the smoke a set of caved in depressions shot along the ground before colliding with Gen'ei. The raven haired Samurai moved his sword in a furious flury of motion blocking the super sonic slices with perfect form.

Even as the powerful blows drove him back he smirked. "You're wondering how I can predict your moves aren't you Tatsumaki.."

He dropped down and vanished in a cloud of dust. Tatsiumaki blasted out of the cloud leaving a trail of craters along the ground as he destroyed everything he came in contact with.

Gen'ei suddenly stopped short as he saw Shido slam a set of 20 Yakuza nearly 10 feet with a mere swipe of his hand.

Tatsumaki moved to the side of the surprised Gen'ei and sliced catching him off guard.

Gen'ei's senses kicked in at just the last moment and he managed to avoid the majority of the slice. As he landed his black kimono top was sliced at the chest. A thin line of blood was visible as a cut across his chest.

He turned around and saw the charging Tatsumaki in his face already. He moved around the diagonal slice and the two began circling one another slicing and blocking in a rhythmic dance of lethal beauty.

Near them Naruto was blasting through Yakuza until he was finally being pushed back. More and more kept pouring in. For every 3 or 4 he killed another 5 showed up. Even with the chakra burst he was being pushed back.

At this rate he'd have to summon Kyuubi.. But if he did that... he'd have some explaining to do..

Shido narrowed his eyes. He was going to have to start trying soon if this kept up.. And there goes his vacation. These fools would pay dearly for ruining his time off..

Tatsumaki and Gen'ei were both panting with small cuts across their kimono's as evidence of the close calls.

Gen'ei had not expected Tatsumaki to adapt this quickly to the new method of combat. The attacks were no longer in a pattern but sporadic and nearly impossible to predict.

The Yakuza were increasing and becoming more and more of a problem as the opponents numbers increased more and more. Naruto suddenly found himself being sliced at on all sides he dodged a few of them before being sliced with a weak reaching slash. He pushed the blade out with red chakra and jumped up high into the air before landing on a small shed roof.

He immediately went through a set of seals.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

Suddenly a poof of smoke was heard as Shido turned in utter shock to the smoke billowing up around Naruto.

_W-what! The Summoning technique! That.. That's impossible.. How could he know THAT technique! And this chakra.. It's.. it's enormous.. I-I can't even grasp it.. What has he summoned!_

Suddenly the summoned smoke began to turn a shade of red as bolts of electricity sporadically flashed.

The entire area was suddenly filled with dread as an enormous killing intent was felt. The Yakuza turned to look at the new threat as Shido and both Samurai turned to view the new arrival.

The smoke slowly faded to reveal two glowing red slit eyes. As more and more of the form revealed itself the enormous 9 tailed fox slowly walked out of the smoke crushing the already destroyed shed it had been summoned on.

Shido's eyes went wide. Suddenly realization hit him. "Of course.. That's why.. The only reason for kicking a child of this much potential and power out of a village would be out of fear of him.. And now I see why.."

"But to **summon** The Kyuubi.. No container should have this kind of ability.." Shido muttered in awe.

The Samurai froze in their places. Neither of them could move as the killing intent of the Kyuubi had them paralyzed.

The Yakuza were as a whole about to wet themselves. They didn't need to know the details to know what they were facing.

"D-demon!"

The Yakuza turned and began to run away from enormous fox. She laughed and whipped a tail across the ground purposely missing and allowing the gust of winds kicked up from the motion to carry 50 of them half way across the entire town.

Several others flew into the sky ending with a slight twinkle as they disappeared. When they landed much farther away they fell from 100 feet in the air and splattered on the ground dead.

(It always annoyed me in anime that when they disappeared that high into the sky with the twinkle that it was assumed they could survive a fall from that distance.. Every time team rocket gets beat they should be dead..)

Kyuubi opened her mouth and spit out a crimson red flame that took the form of a fox it incinerated another 100 of the Yakuza that were now running for their lives. On top of Kyuubi's head Naruto pulled out a kunai and threw it at a running Yakuza nailing him in the back of the head.

Kyuubi slammed a tail into the ground and a set of enormous tremors rocked the earth before cracking and opening up swallowing the remainder of the Yakuza running.

Now there were less than 15 of the 250 that had been there before.

Shido blurred in front of the leader and picked him up by the throat. The leader was about to wet himself. "P-please.. Call the monster off.. W-we surrender!"

He looked up at Naruto sitting happily on the head of the giant fox.

Naruto looked and saw that the Yakuza had been beaten he patted Kyuubi on the head. "Thanks.. Kyuubi.. I think we got it from here." She let out a low growl.. Before poofing into summoned smoke and eroding into shimmering red sparkles settling into his stomach.

Inside his head Naruto heard a voice. **"I'll be expecting a long and detailed explanation of just what has been going on... tonight."**

Naruto stopped chuckling as he realized his predicament. He was now 40 feet in the air in an Indian style sitting position and dropping fast.

It suddenly occurred to him that landing like this would be somewhat painful.

Shido irritatedly tore the Yakuza leaders head off before incinerating the rest with a fire blast from his palms. He dropped the headless corpse when he heard a loud boom behind him after which a loud yell emerged.

Naruto rolled on his side clutching his bruised tail bone screaming various obscenities.

Gen'ei turned to look at Tatsumaki and sighed. "Ahh.. It seems that yet again.. We have been pulled apart.."

"If the employer is dead there is no reason to continue risking my life to kill you.. Perhaps the next time I meet the Tornado of the Imperialists.. It will be under better circumstances.."

He resheathed his blade. Bowing sightly he turned and began to walk away. The girl who Naruto had freed was now at Tatsumaki's side. He held her back as he too resheathed his sword.

"Yes.. I would like that very much... Gen'ei. The Phantom of the Shinsingumi"

In truth both Samurai were completely freaked lout by the fact that a 10 year old kid just summoned a demon then dismissed it as if it was nothing more than a small puppy.

They indented to get as far away from freaky little kids like that as they possibly could.

Shido on the other hand walked over to the snoring boy and noticed that his injuries were nearly all healed including the ones he'd placed on him.

He chuckled turning to look at his watch.

"Hmm.. 5:00, he lasted an extra hour..not bad for his first survival training.."

Before finally turning Tatsumaki turned to take one last look at the strange boy now being carried by the man in the cloak he bowed sightly.

"What is the boy's name?"

Shido stopped momentarily. "Naruto.. Uzumaki Naruto."

Tatsumaki nodded. "One day I shall repay you for you assistance Uzumaki-san"

Shido merely continued his stride back to the inn room. They would need to get out of town by nightfall.. Unfortunately that stunt with the Kyuubi would attract even more attention blowing any hopes of salvaging his vacation away..

He sighed.

As he continued walking through the rubble and dead Yakuza bodies he noticed that the receptionist had been run off. Though that didn't surprise him... one would have had to be a fool to purposely stay there with all that transpired today.

Tatsumaki turned to walk in the opposite direction as the two forms of Shido and Tartsumaki each faded into the rising smoke.

Shido knew that the discovery he had made today changed everything..

He now had a decision to make.. On the one hand the original plan was now much closer to being executed.. However.. The things he had seen today had opened up a new door, previously never before imagined.

Before leaving he sent a special crow out with a small piece of paper from the top story window. He then grabbed their belongings and exited the inn slipping out into the night.

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The cave was dimly lit by the small flickers of the burning candles. The heated wax melted with a slow dripping motion down the base finally pooling at the bottom.

A figure made his way into the small assembly circling a cloaked man.

As he silently joined the ranks the cloaked man turned to look over his shoulder.

"You're late... again."

The man bowed. "I apologize Shidousha... I was ambushed by a group of hunter ninja.. I was... forced to dispatch them.."

One of the assembled figures snorted. "You mean you got bored and as usual had to take on everybody you saw till they was all dead.."

The cloaked man in the center waved a hand dismissively.. "I will allow you to slide once more Itachi.. But if this continues.. You will be dealt with.. Am I understood?"

Itachi bowed "Yes.. Shidousha (leader).. Thank you for your mercy.. I will strive to be more diligent."

The leader turned to look at the assembly before him.. "I have called you from your tracking mission because of a very important recent development."

"In my vacation travels I have discovered the Kyuubi."A set of murmurs erupted at this proclamation. The leader turned to the other side and began pacing. "However, this is not the only reason I have called you here.."

"It is true that now that we have found the Kyuubi, the most powerful of the 9 tailed beasts, we can proceed with the plan ahead of schedule..."

"However.. The recent development that I spoke of earlier has not yet been revealed to you."

Shido smiled at the set of murmurs among the occupants in the cave.

He continued.

"We have.. A change of plans."

Note: ok thats chapter 5.. Its like 30 pages so.. Hope yall like it..aight I'mgonna post the review I put up explaining the long wait and the other rather important development that has occurred.

In any case.. If all goes well I'll try to get the story moving a little better in the coming week.. Maybe by weekend.. We'll see.

Now.. To prevent future questions Make sure u read this:

Sup all.. I just want to let u know I will continue to work on this as long as possible..

However.. the chance of me completing this story on this site are extremely slim.. this is mainly b/c I probably wont be on it much longer.

My story Dont Be Flashin Steel When U Roll through Compton has been pulled. That is over 30+ chapters of work and well over 100k words.

Now.. the reason for this was the administration didn't like my use of dialect and disregard for grammar.. According to the e-mail I got it was quote:

"_Title: "Don't Be Flashin Steel When U Roll through Compton" _

_Summary: "Through a series of events Naruto travels to the past and meets Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru when they were still teens being trained by Sarutobi. TsuNar" _

_Rating: "Fiction Rated: M" _

_Main reason for removal: "Disregard for proper language: grammar, spelling, punctuation, and etc._

_" The above story has been removed because it violated the guideline detailed on the upload page. This infraction has been recorded and once you reach a certain limit, your account be automatically banned. _

_Moreover, as a result of this infraction, you will not have upload access for a period of time. __(A week)Fanfiction (dot) net has a set of guidelines for the uploading of stories and chapters."_

Were they to apply the same standard to all authors the reality is about 1/2 of the stories on this site would be gone..

anyway.. I'll chalk it up to racism cause im a minority..

I told u I would finish my story and I intend to..

once the story is completed and yall have had an opportunity to read it I will stop uploading it and when they kick it for the final time that will be it..

b/c of this my account will most likely be erased thus destroying all my work.. I apologize for this and for whoever was looking forward to reading BP I may find another place to post it or if by some miracle fanfic dot net decides to be civil or fair and simply only kick DBFS once I've completed it then I can finish BP on here.. although I doubt that will happen..

Again.. my apologies for deciding on this course of action but I don't think it's fair to the fans who have stuck with my first attempts all the way to the end to cut them off when im only 2 or 3 chapters away.

Shinkanneko85has agreed to host the poster of my stories, and the actual story of DBFS I will do so for the pics and maybe the story so u can check her out to see those when I do them.. So..

possibly for the last time under this name..

iNFAMOUS X..

Pace.


	6. Enter the Dawn

Chapter 6: (Enter the Dawn)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime or game I'm takin this shit from.

Srry about the long wait but alas.. it's finally come. The sixth chapter of Bloody Pawprints. So to all those who pestered the shit outta me.. good job.. here is some of the fruits of your labor.

Oh P.S: if u happen to see charka instead of chakra plz forgive me I seemed to make that typo a lot for some reason and I might have missed some of them when I went back and spell checked.

And now on with the story….

"Ouch." Naruto rubbed the top of his forehead which he was sure by now was about 90 percent bumps.

"Could it really hurt to at least have a few candles on the wall.." "Seriously why'd they bother to take the blindfold off, I can't see anything.." he mumbled under his breath as he carefully felt around the enclosed area and passed through the narrow tunnel of rock.

He had been walking along a long, narrow beam of steel practicing his balance as Shido had requested when he was suddenly bound and blindfolded in less than a second.

He hadn't even registered their presence. Some ninja he was..

And so he'd felt himself lifted onto something and then a very fast sensation of speed. Finally he'd gotten off what he was sitting on and pulled into some knee deep water. He stood still for a few minutes as a variety of noises went on around him. The most prevalent was a powerful rushing He smelled a faint scent of burning around him as well.

He finally entered into a cool humid environment with the powerful rushing becoming less defined with each step away from it. Finally he and his assailants stopped and he felt his blindfold being slipped off. To his surprise his vision remained the same.

Complete darkness.

He couldn't see a thing. His kidnappers hadn't spoken a word they simply dragged him in the general direction of where to go by the arm leaving him to maneuver around the complex twists and turns of the rock formation on his own. And as the innumerable bumps and knots on his forehead indicated he was failing miserably in that department.

Kyuubi was sleeping. This meant that asking her for help was out of the question. Not even Naruto was foolish enough to wake the great demon from her sleep. To do so.. would be to unlock the full fury of the apocalypse on his poor stomach.

He well remembered the fury of the raging kitsune the last time he had awoken her to ask her what her favorite color was. He didn't think he'd ever complain about gas ever again.

Suddenly he saw a speck of light up ahead. The speck grew and grew until it became what looked like a door of bright shining light. He stepped into it and felt the hands dragging him release him. The room was dimly lit with a few candles burning on the wall. A spotlight shone in the center of the room illuminating that speck of ground.

The candles began to flicker as Naruto stood there staring at the spotlight for about a minute before blowing out as a gust of cold swept through the room and a voice called out.

"Leave us."

Naruto could feel the powerful chakra's beside him disappear. He didn't hear a sound as they left the room but he knew they'd gone from the disappearance of their powers. He wasn't trained to detect them or anything but they were so… immense.

He gulped and took a step forward. The voice called out again.

"Those bindings, you no longer need them."

Instantly the steel cables uncoiled from around his wrists and fell lifelessly to the ground.

Naruto continued walking and flopped his hands a bit to get some blood flowing back into them before stopping in the center of the spotlight. The room was now completely dark with the exception of the boy in the spotlight.

Naruto was shaking in terror. He could feel the power radiating from the room. Cold and dark. Much like Kyuubi's.

A soft chuckling rose out of the room.

"Boy, Are you frightened?"

Naruto gathered up his courage and puffed out his chest. "No, I'm just shaking because it's cold."

"I see." The voice softly spoke.

"Do you know why you have been brought here?"

Naruto slowly shook his head while contemplating the question.

The voice spoke again. "You are here because you have a very special gift that makes you someone very important."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably. "Y-you mean Kyuubi-chan?"

Silence was heard. Then a soft response. "Yes, Kyuubi-chan.. when she was sealed inside you, you inherited her legacy."

"You see.. this is an organization made up of the most powerful people in the world." "The reason you are here is because I believe you could become one of those people… I. think you could become stronger than you can possibly imagine.. but only if you have the right instruction."

"Your previous teachers at your ninja academy didn't help you much did they?"

Naruto looked down at the ground. "No, they only cared about the other kids and plus I really sucked.. I just can't seem to get any of the jutsu's to work no matter how much work I put into them.."

The voice laughed.

"And that is precisely why we wish to make such an investment in you. You will find, Naruto, that while the strong prodigies are superior to you now.. as you grow, the potential of hidden talent will far outmatch such boxed in talent."

"Geniuses are limited, but fighters that have yet to fully realize their capacity have an unlimited level of growth… it is only when they make that barrier themselves that they limit their growth."

A different voice called out from the shadows to Naruto's left.

"Such as my foolish brother.. rather than ascertain his own capacity he insists on reaching a level that merely surpasses my own…"

The voice died off in thought saying. "He could be so much stronger.."

The original voice picked up again. "Yes, and that barrier can also be the need for the strength to protect something precious."

"Once you have attained the full extent of your strength you will have the power to defend that precious thing.. but if you strive only to protect it as a sole motivation it will forever limit you.."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't believe that.. Kyuubi-chan is the most important thing to me in the world.. I wont ever let another bastard like that Yondaime hurt her again.. even if it costs me my life I will defend her till my last breath!"

The voice got closer as the one speaking had stood up from his chair. "Then if you truly mean that then you wish for strength that surpasses the demon inside of you?"

Naruto nodded. "I will become stronger than anything that could hurt Kyuubi-chan so that I can defend her!"

A silhouette could now be seen as the humanoid form reached the outside of the spotlight. "Then you will need trainers that can help you achieve this level.. and I assure you… those in Konoha can not."

Naruto looked up as the form finally stepped into the light revealing his face.

Naruto's eyes widened. "N-nani .. Shido-sensei!"

Shido smirked then lifted his head up "You have all heard this conversation and the boy's position.. what is your answer.

A large man stepped from the shadows. " So the crazy kid wants to be stronger that a freakin demon.. ha ha.. oh yeah.. this should be interesting."

A smaller one stepped up. "Indeed, I believe it will be most interesting to determine the boy's true capacity. Most interesting indeed."

Another smaller one moved forward. This one was a bit bulkier. "He has a very strong belief in his ideals.. he reminds me of Chiyo-sama.."

Another moved beside him. "The art of the Kyuubi is explosive. So sudden and fleeting and yet the remnants of it are left both on the land and the hearts of the people even 12 years later.. Exquisite."

A soft sliding and another form appeared to emerge from some sort of opening. "You seem to see something inside the boy Shidousha… I will trust your judgement."

3 others moved in completing the circle around Naruto standing in the middle of the spotlight.

Shido smiled and spoke. "It is decided. Uzumaki Naruto we have decided to accept you as a potential future member of the Akatsuki. "Whether you become one of us will depend on your performance under your trainers.. as will whether you attain the strength you seek."

Naruto nodded as he looked around him at the darkened forms surrounding him. He narrowed his eyes and balled his fists. "I got ya."

Shido nodded. "well then, you'll be taken to your quarters now.. take some time to familiarize yourself with your surroundings.. Tomorrow you start your training."

Naruto nodded and was soon ushered back into the dark tunnels by a set of hands and taken a bit less forcefully though the winding tunnels.

Shido turned to his members. "now.. each of you return to your preparations for the mission.. I will call each of you in individually to discuss the boy's training assignments." The group nodded before vanishing into the darkness.

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Naruto sat on the floor of his dark mindscape. He was looking at the mighty demon fox who was currently listening with interest to the events that had unfolded.

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. **"Hmm.. these Akatsuki are a very convenient development.. I'm not so sure we should simply trust them completely just yet.."**

Naruto shrugged. "Apparently Shido is the leader and he's pretty cool.. besides if they can make me stronger, then they can't be all that bad.."

Kyuubi turned her head and stared off into space letting a small smile grace her fearsome features. **"Naruto, you are too trusting.." "Much like she was.."**

At this Naruto's ears perked up. "She?"

Kyuubi held her head to the side but moved her eye to the corner of the lid to gaze at him and grinned mischievously. "**Hmph.. you'll need your sleep for training tomorrow.. I can actually sense the chakra of the ninja outside this room.. and for me to sense chakra even from inside this seal.."**

"**I can assure you that they will not be teaching you in a wooden classroom like those imbeciles in the leaf.."**

Naruto widened his eyes. "N-nani! You have to tell me.. you can't just leave me wondering about something like that all night, I'll never get to sleep!"

Kyuubi chuckled maniacally. **"Pfft, who are we talking about here, just lay down and close your eyes and you'll be out like a rock for hours.."**

Naruto was about to respond when hesuddenly yawned and dropped his head. He struggled to lift it. "Hey no fair.. sleeping gen-jutsu's are unfair.."

Kyuubi rolled her eyes **"You'll have to learn to resist them sometime.." **

Naruto was already fast asleep slumped up against her second tail curled on the ground. The mighty fox smiled as she looked at him. She curled up and lay with her head resting on her paws.

Soon even the mighty Kitsune had drifted off into a light sleep though remaining a constant awareness of her surroundings so as not to roll over and squish the small human laying on her tail.

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Naruto was woken up with a very startling discovery. Akatsuki members didn't get to sleep late. A hunched figure had come into his room and quite loudly awakened him so fast he was torn out of the seal as consciousness pulled him back before he could even look at Kyuubi.

As they traveled the mysterious hunched figure lumbered on without a sound. Naruto was wearing his orange shorts with ninja sandals and his white shirt with a black swirl on the back.

Suddenly a loud rumbling resounded through the echoing cavern. "Oiy.. aren't we gonna eat breakfast first?" Naruto asked.

The figure did not turn around but merely chuckled. "No."

Naruto was stunned, he'd always learned in class that the body needed 3 meals a day to keep up energy and now this guy was telling him he wasn't even going to have breakfast..

Soon they exited onto a grassy plain. Naruto noted that they must have gone a different way than they came in since he didn't hear or see the large waterfall that he'd heard just as they entered the lair the first time.

He turned finally and noted the appearance of his first instructor. Gender couldn't be quite determined but it appeared as though it might be male judging by the eyes. A large scorpion tail came out of a mask on his back. The lower half of his face was concealed by a large black rag and he had on a straw hat with white strips of paper coming down the sides. The rest of the body was concealed in a large black cloak with red cloud designs drawn around it.

The figure spoke. "I am Sasori of the red sands, I will be your poison and long distance instructor.. before we begin.. I am going to give you a test to gauge your current level."

Naruto nodded. "Yoshi, Sasori-sensei! I'll definitely pass this test!"

The hunched figure began to chuckle. "Then you are ready?"

Naruto nodded with his eyes blazing with determination.

Sasori smirked. "As you wish." Instantly the scorpion tail lashed out in a blur of speed too fast for Naruto to even register before the stinger dislodged from his back.

His eyes widened as he felt the numbing poison travel through his system at an unnatural rate. He looked over at Sasori with blurring vision. The hunched man simply laughed. "When using poison it is inevitable that you will be exposed to the toxins yourself.. thus to eliminate this problem you must gain immunity to otherwise lethal substances.. or.." "Die trying."

Sasori smirked. "Believe it or not.. this is a weak poison that merely paralyzes and slowly drops the vitality of the opponent.. it would only lower a Jounin level shinobi's battle ability about 10 percent.."

Naruto grimaced and reached for his kunai. Sasori opened up his wrists and shot a set of cables with razors attached to them. Naruto ducked under with just barely enough time to gain his balance before rolling to avoid a set of projectiles Sasori had fired. Naruto jumped into the air and launched his kunai at Sasori from above. The hunched figure moved his head around the kunai subconsciously.

Naruto landed on the balls of his feet inwardly cursing. _Dammit.. him too.. it was bad enough when Shido-sensei did it. They could at least deflect it.. how the heck do they just move around it so easily! _

Naruto shot off to the side and Sasori opened his mouth revealing a set of small spikes that he launched straight up into the air. Naruto's body was now seriously feeling the affects of the poison but he still managed to run up to a tree and hug against it hoping that it would provide some shelter from the falling spikes.

Sasori looked at the boy who was now over 30 feet away hiding behind an oak tree. He lowered his head and a compartment on his shoulder opened up revealing a log in a spring loaded box. The log was tipped with special custom explosive notes wrapped around it and as the spring shot forward the friction of the ignition board lit the explosive notes as the log shot out and headed straight for the tree Naruto was hiding behind.

The log hit the tree and exploded just as it made contact creating a horrific ball of fire and a small shockwave blasted across the field as bits of debris shot out in all directions.

Naruto's heart rate was off the charts,. He was dangling upside down by the razor sharp poison tipped tail that had wrapped around his leg and pulled him up to safety just as the blast hit. That tail was unbelievably fast.

It retracted and brought him hanging upside down back to Sasori.

"Hmm…I see.. well I now have a complete understanding of your tactical strategies and long range combat abilities."

Naruto looked at the upside down face of the fearsome man in front of him. "really.. so what are they.. like a C or something?"

Sasori remained emotionless, his upped face frozen in that hideous piercing gaze as always.

"Nonexistent."

Naruto would have facefalted if he had been standing upright in the first place. "N-nani! What do you mean non-ex-is- tent.. what the hell does that word even mean anyway!"

Sasori chuckled. "Boy, how old are you?"

Naruto blinked a few times. "Um.. I'm ten.. why?"

Sasori sighed and unwrapped his tail from Naruto's leg dropping him on the ground. He then raised a clawed finger from out of his cloak and inserted some sort of injective blue liquid into Naruto's neck. As he retracted his finger Naruto's vision immediately began to improve.

Sasori looked down at the boy rubbing the back of his neck on the ground.

"Well.. where to begin.. The first mistake you made was to drop your guard." "My tail is quite fast.. but it would be highly unlikely that any of the other Akatsuki members would be hit by my initial strike."

"When thinking in a long distance mindset, there is only one purpose for being within 6 feet of me, and that is to attack." "If you wished to remain at your current proximity to me then you should have charged in and gotten the first strike."

"That first blow would have killed you." "After the poison took effect you immediately succumbed to it.. the pain of an injury or the effects of a poison must never be apparent to your opponent.. as a shinobi the mental advantage over your opponents is a necessity."

"You must never.. let the opponent know what areas that he hit are the most damaging or the most effective.. Because if you do.. he will simply capitalize on them and defeat you effortlessly."

"The third major error you made was to allow me to control your movement." "If I had wanted to kill you with the attacks I shot you would have been killed before you ever got a step."

"I calculated which way you would dodge from observing your movement pattern and then purposely shot the projectiles in the areas I knew you wouldn't be."

"But as you noticed I forced you to move back.. constantly pushing you backwards and making you remain on the defensive."

Naruto frowned. This Sasori guy had made a total fool of him. And yet.. he was explaining exactly how he'd done it.. none of Naruto's other teachers had ever done that..

Everyone had always told him how much of an idiot he was and how he'd never become a shinobi.. putting him down and calling him names.. but this was a very different approach.. actually telling him how he could improve so he wouldn't suck so much..

Sasori looked at him and tilted his head. "However, once you were moving I was very surpised how little the poison affected you.. tell me were you channeling the Kyuuvbi's power to move at that pace?"

Naruto shook his head. "No.. Kyuubi-chan is still asleep and it's a really bad idea to wake her up too early.. so that was me.."

Unknowns to both of them inside the seal Kyuubi was very much awake and studying the one known as Sasori through the eyes of Naruto very carefully as well as Naruto's fight.

She grinned.

Sasori nodded.. I see.. there is another exercise I wish to do to see something about you."

Naruto blinked in confusion before Sasori pulled his arm out of the black cloak and held it in a seal. "Lets try this again.. show me what you've learned from my explanation of last time."

Suddenly the clawed fingers began shifting through a set of seals before a poof of smoke revealed another Sasori on this one was completely different.

While the first Sasori was a hunched over bulky figure with a big nose, this one was a slender male with long black hair flowing in a mane down his back.

Sasori explained. "This is a puppet." "I will be observing your battle from the side while attacking you through the puppet.. prepare yourself boy."

Naruto instantly took the hint and shot off running.

Of course he was running straight at the puppet ready to attack head on. He blasted a kunai at the puppet and it missed almost completely as the puppet stood still not even moving and Sasori watched it sail by.

Naruto brought two shuriken throwing stars up and threw them point blank at the Puppets face who vanished.

Naruto felt a presence behind him and rolled to the side to avoid whatever traps the raven haired puppet would bring. Instead he was punched. Hard. The fist of the puppet embedded into Naruto's cheek sending him flying.

Naruto stopped himself by turning the fall into a roll and got to his feet back pedaling a few inches before regaining his footing. Just as he had, however, the puppet appeared beside him delivering a kick that Naruto blocked.

Naruto then dodged under a clothesline and tried to get behind the puppet in order to attack from behind but stopped just in time when a set of spikes shot out of the puppets back.

The sudden stop caused him to lose balance and fall back the puppet meanwhile whipped around and kicked Naruto in the stomach sending him flying.

Naruto landed and tried to get up but was hit again and he fell to the ground. As the puppet came into finish him off Naruto shot straight up and kicked up connecting with the puppet's chin before springing backwards in a sloppy backflip and shooting straight up shiving a kunai into the face of the off guard puppet.

Naruto landed smirking when suddenly the puppet exploded in a poof of smoke leaving a dropping log with a kunai stuck in it behind.

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief. "N-nain.. h-how did.. but that's just a puppet.. how can a puppet use a replacement jutsu!"

Sasori chuckled at Naruto's outburst. "My puppets are.. specially made to retain chakra and certain ones even have their own jutsu's.. also I am a master puppeteer.. to make my puppets perform the necessary seals and charka amounts to do simple jutsu's like Kawarimi is a joke.."

"Please continue.. I was enjoying your battle.. though you may want to start attacking back a bit more as a strategy of wearing the opponent down will not affect a puppet that never tires."

Naruto glared at the puppet. He had located it's position about halfway through Sasori's comment.

He dropped into a defensive stance. "let's go."

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Naruto was wobbling. He had ripped through his clothes. His hair was drenched with sweat and dirt turned mud. His face was scratched and his body bruised. He was breathing heavily while the lifeless eyes of the puppet looked at him mocking him as he stood there nearly about to drop from exhaustion.

It was 3:00 in the afternoon. Naruto had tried every strategy he could think of short of waking Kyuubi up but he wasn't about to rely on her to fight his battles for him. No.. this was HIS training and if he passed. HE would be the one to do it.

He shot forward and began launching attacks on the puppet. Sasori simply let Naruto wail on it as his attacks did little to no damage at all besides further bruising his body.

Finally Naruto dropped to his knees breathing heavily.

Sasori raised an eyebrow. _So, he's finally reached his limit.. _

Naruto suddenly looked up with a grin on his face. His eyes narrowed and he brought his swirling hands up as a small concentration of chakra began to appear in them.

The small spark began to grow until it resembled a small blue ball of swirling chakra in his hands.

Sasori's eyes widened. _ That technique!_

Naruto growled as he shot up with all his speed and plunged the spinning ball into the chest of the lifeless puppet watching as it drilled into the wood of the chest.

Sasori was still wide eyed as Naruto dropped face first with a grin on his face after completing his attack which had cracked the oak surface of his puppets chest.

_No doubt less damaging.. and albeit a much weaker version, but still.. there's no mistaking it.. that technique.. it was definitely the Yondaime Hokage's signature attack.. _

_This boy.._

Sasori was about to go get him when all of a sudden he stopped and turned his head to see Shido standing next to him with Naruto under one of his arms.

"So, what is you initial assessment?"

Sasori bowed his head dismissing his summoned clone in a poof of smoke.

The Boy has nearly no chakra control, almost no sense of tactics, less than academy level technique, and an impulsive impatient personality."

"But." "His stamina.."

Shido smiled.

Sasori lifted his head. "It's god-like.." "I've never seen anything like it.. his chakra reserves.. it's like he can reach into a well of energy that doesn't end"

"He.. even created a jutsu at the end that.. it was the Yondaime's.."

Shido chuckled. "Ah yes, I may have forgotten to mention he is capable of performing a weakened version of the Rasengan.."

"So you will be warned.. he is.. it seems he is capable of performing the summoning technique as well."

Sasori's eyes widened.. summoning.. how on earth.. the boy is ten!"

Shido turned to look off to the side. "The creature he summons is.. the Kyuubi…"

Sasori's eyes bulged out even further. After some moments of silence he finally spoke. "In what respect?"

Shido looked down at the boy sleeping in his arms. "In its entirety." "It was one of the reasons the plan to extract Kyuubi was abandoned."

"Kyuubi and Naruto seem to have a strong relationship with each other.. when Naruto summons.. he summons the literal Kyuubi somehow.."

Sasori looked down still in absolute shock. "I see.. this is a rather… interesting development.."

Shido nodded. "Well in any case.. training the boy should be some good experience for you.. as you've seen he has potential to surpass us all.. but it's got quite a bit of digging to go before we get to it."

Sasori nodded. "I am correct in assuming that our individual training in specific fields is merely preparation for your own?"

Shido looked up at the sky. "Perhaps.. when I first met him his attitude amused me.. but now that I see the truth about him.. he may very well earn that honor. But that all depends on his performance after he's finished with all of you."

Sasori nodded. I see… very well, I will very much enjoy seeing how far the boy progresses.."

Shido nodded. "For now you are dismissed. When Naruto wakes up he can eat dinner then have the night off."

"Tomorrow I want you to begin strengthening his body as well.. focus mostly on you areas of expertise but balance it with physical training."

Sasori nodded before bowing and vanishing in a wave of sand that seemed to come from nowhere.

Shido looked down at Naruto. "Well now, Yondaime.. it seems your son will indeed become a powerful force.. though not quite the way you were expecting.."

With that Shido carried the unconscious Naruto back into the grassy entrance and into the tunnel before disappearing completely into the dark abyss.

Note: well I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I finally got the next chapter of Bloody Pawprints out! Heeelll yeaahhh! Ok, anyway hope yall like this one and again thx to everyone who pestered me..

Actually I'mma be honest.. I didn't even start writing this until yesterday at abt 3:05 I left for work at 5 then I picked up again at about 4:30 this afternoon and am now finishing at like 8:46 so yeah..

The story has a lot of really good concepts and ideas that Imma wanna get to soon so Naruto's training will be sped along a little fast.

Pretty much Sasori will do his thing and the next chapter will move on to a new trainer ect.

Anyway on a completely irrelevant note tomorrow I'll be 18 happy birthday to me bitches!

I can now legally: go to clubs, smoke, buy a high powered assault rifle, buy stuff from those commercials with the blue screens that always say u gotta be 18 or older to call, buy a high powered assault rifle, and unfortunately be drafted to go into the military if it's reinstated.. but hey on the bright side I can buy a high powered assault rifle!

So yeah this is kinda my gift to yall b/c it';s my B day.. hope u enjoy..

The poster for my two fics is run into a snag.. I don't have adobe photoshop on my computer so since schools out I might not have access to it..

But I'm workin on it.

Shout out to madnarutofan.. he left the site as a writer but he was good and mad props to him as well as lasercrusader and onikami no shinobi, yall do yalls thang.

Word is born,

Pace.


	7. In the Ninja World

Chapter 7 : (In the Ninja World…)

The music softly emanated from the piano as the said Genin ninja walked up to the podium and received his official ninja head band. Tsuruko Rokai smiled widely as his family around him snapped pictures and the camera flashes temporarily blinded the small auditorium.

Finally after a few words of acknowledgement he walked off and a new name was called.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The hyper blonde boy walked up the steps and turned to face his instructor Iruka. The man smiled and said "For exemplary performance in all areas of his academic classes as well as his applications.. I now bestow upon you your official headband.. congratulations, you graduate."

Naruto closed his eyes and put up a fox grin as all around him pictures flashed. His family stood tall and proud though for some reason when he turned to look at them they were blocked form his view by a waving and cheering supporter.

Every time he tried to see his father or his mother they were just barely discernable in the crowd. He turned his head to the hot spot lights above him and smiled opening his brilliant blue eyes.

"Oiy, it's an honor to be here.. along with my graduating class.. we sure did have some fun times.. but now that we're full fledged shinobi.. the road will only get tougher."

"That's why we're gonna need your continued support and guidance in the next crucial steps of our journey as shinobi"

At this a roar of applause erupted from the audience and Naruto nodded to them before turning to walk off the stage.

Suddenly he lost his balance and the forehead protector slipped from his hands and seemed to fall in slow motion as he fell off the front of the stage.

He continued falling and falling until it became faster as if the drop to the bottom was a bottomless pit and the room began to turn darker and darker as he fell faster and faster until finally-

Naruto bolted upright in his bed sweat pouring down his forehead. His black shirt was stuck to his sweaty back and chest as he sat there huffing, his heart racing.

Finally he caught his bearings and he looked around at the familiar simple quarters he was in. Turning over to look at the clock, he saw it was 3:45 in the morning, still over 2 hours before he'd need to get up to begin his training routine.

He sighed and fell back onto the bed making a slight dent in the pillow. His heart and breathing finally returned to a normal rate as he tried to turn over and go back to sleep.

He had this dream nearly every other night and every time it seemed more and more realistic. And each time he would get closer and closer to seeing his parents but something would always happen.

And each time he would lose the forehead protector that signified him as a true ninja and watch it fall into oblivion.

It was something so trivial yet he couldn't shake the feeling. The forehead protector symbolized the very essence of a shinobi to Naruto, the fact that he didn't have one meant he would never really be a ninja.. regardless of who he trained with.

Oh he was dangerous. Sasori and Deidara-sensei had made sure of that.. his skills probably out matched that of any of the genin of his class.. even that know it all prick Neji.

And yet, he was weak. He was not a ninja. Even all of the Akatsuki had forehead protectors with slashes through them. He had nothing but a black shirt, few sets of orange jump suits, a white shirt and orange shorts, and a sleek stealth suit that he'd been given at the beginning of his current training.

It bugged him regardless of how trivial the matter was. And with these thoughts he drifted back to sleep wondering what the coming morning would bring.

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Naruto did not see his teacher. This was no surprise as the first step of the day was to find him. Naruto knew he'd be well hidden.

As the Akatsuki's top spy and stealth expert he was nearly invisible in any environment.

Naruto's newly trained eyes searched for any sign of his position. Strategically placed clues disguised as mistakes that a shinobi would commonly make had been purposely left for Naruto to follow.

The blonde boy suddenly launched his eyes to the right before flashing through a set of hand seals and launching a kunai at a random tree. The kunai exploded as the jutsu had concentrated charka and then caused the kunai to explode on contact.

The tree split in two, and as the pieces fell a form blurred in right beside Naruto's head. A black head turned a eye to look at him. "**_Now, Naruto… I'm disappointed.. such an attack to flush me out.. no doubt Deidara's handiwork.."_** The head turned revealing a white head on the other side. "How many times have I told you.. such theatrics as explosions will not work in such delicate matters as stealth requires."

Naruto rolled his eyes before grinning. "You sure?"

Suddenly Naruto's body began to glow white. The double faced man widened his eyes "N-nani!"

The Naruto clone exploded sending bits of plants flying everywhere.

The real Naruto was watching carefully from a tree until he felt a vine wrapping around him holding him tightly. He sighed.

"Good morning Zetsu-sensei.."

A grunt came above him as he saw Zetsu was looking at him shaking his head. "Misdirection does not work on shinobi of my caliber."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah I kinda figured that.." "So.. whata I get to learn today?"

Zetsu smiled. "We will begin with traditional castle entry."

"Geginning with trap evasion.. follow me."

With that Zetsu had left and Naruto had to attempt to keep up with him.

Suddenly he stopped. In front of them stood a temple of sorts. In this temple a long stretch of rice paper was set along. Zetsu smiled. "A common trap for Daiyamo and Samurai to use.. and a trivial matter for a true ninja."

"Walk from this end of the rice paper to the next without making a single tear.. if you can do this.. you will be finished with today's assignment."

Naruto nodded and summoned his charka at his feet the he proceeded to treat it like tree climbing that Deidara had him doing. He stepped out onto the rice paper and his sandals instantly fell into the sticky folds. As he tried to lift his foot he heard the soft tear of the paper as he took a step.

"Hmmm.. " He scratched his head. "This might be a little harder than I thought.."

Zetsu smirked as he melted into the floor. Naruto rolled his eyes..

There were so many layers of deception with Zetsu that it was hard to know if he'd ever met the real one before.. He'd always vanished in a clone like way such as the melting into the floor.

3 hours later..

Naruto threw his hands up in frustration. "Grrr.. what the heck am I supposed to do.. this stuff is impossible to walk on!"

The rice paper was ridiculously thin. It had nothing to it.. the slightest wait would tear it and to make matters worse the paper was so sticky Naruto found it hard to get it off his sandals. He sighed in defeat.

"I just don't get it.."

Unknown's to him Zetsu was watching the whole thing in mild interest.. the boy would learn soon enough that while the Kyuubi gave him incredible amounts of chakra.. not every problem could be solved with chakra.

Naruto tried everything, every jutsu he knew every possible trick he could think of.. but nothing worked.

The paper was simply too weak. No matter how much chakra he poured into it nothing worked.

As he sat there pondering it he began to let his mind wander until he remembered something that Zetsu had first taught him.

"The essence of stealth, is that the opponent does not realize you are there until it's too late.. in order to fool a trained shinobi you must first learn the basics.

This is very different form your other training for a variety of reasons.. the first being that an enemy can sense your chakra.. so to use stealth one is not simply using his chakra to conceal his presence.. instead the art of shinobi stealth relies on the individuals absolute perfect control of his body.

The ability to balance your weight in just the right portion, or the knowledge of what sounds make what decibel levels, memorization of maps, always staying two steps ahead of the enemy and never.. under any circumstances losing the element of surprise.

Zetsu had gone on but Naruto had remembered what he needed.

_So.. I just need to make my body light enough to not break the paper. somehow.._

And so Naruto suppressed his chakra and began to focus on controlling even the most finite portion of his body's movement. He knew that if he pulled this off.. it would be the end of his clumsiness.

Zetsu watched with an amused chuckle.

_**Interesting.. he may actually learn the secret of the technique by nightfall.. the question is.. once he knows what to do.. how long will it take him to actually pull it off…**_

By lunch time Naruto had succeeded in going three full steps into the paper before losing control and tearing it. As he stepped off of it the paper reset itself as the tear seemed to magically disappear leaving a blank sheet of rice paper.

Naruto reached in and felt his center of gravity then he distributed that center to the middle of his body so a equal portion of it went to al limbs.

He then took a step retaining an acute awareness of the position of his feet and how much weight was being rested on the leg and he took a slow small step again focusing on the slow but steady steps and retaining absolute control over his body. After only 4 steps he was nearly exhausted.. sweat poured down him as he struggled to retain control.

Another step. This time he felt a little weight go off into his left leg and he lifted it before it could connect enough to stick.

Another step and he tore it.

He sighed and went back to the beginning.

Zetsu nodded from his hidden position. "Hmm.. he's definitely improving."

2 hours later

Naruto. Was dead tired. His muscles felt like jelly.. his body was nearly shut down but he was determined to make the final step. It took al of his will power to keep in control even until the very last moment before stepping onto the wooden floor and off the untorn rice paper strip. It had taken 120 steps but he'd done it.

Naruto fell face forward and collapsed letting his muscles loose and returning to his normal body condition.

Zetsu appeared from nowhere and moved over to Naruto's unmoving body laying face first on the floor.

"Well done.. now.. from now on. That level of control will be your normal body.. In time you will have that control and precision in every thing you do."

Naruto weakly lifted a thumbs up before drooping his head and falling asleep.

Zetsu smirked. The boy had done remarkably well.. especially considering Deidara's chakra eating exploding jutsu's had been engraved on the boys memory.. it would do him good to learn a bit of finesse..

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Naruto looked up at Zetsu. "And who's that?"

Zetsu sighed. "This is my subordinate Tobi, he is also a possible future Akatsuki candidate."

Naruto nodded. "Ahh.. I see.."

Zetsu continued. "He is also going to be one of 2 others in the mission you will be simulating.

Naruto nodded as he looked at the strange man with a mask containing a swirl that seemed to divert attention to his right eye.

Tobi turned to look at Naruto and cocked his head to the side.

"So you used to be a kohona academy student?"

Naruto turned to look at him and nodded. "Yeah.. but I wasn't a actual ninja or anything.."

Tobi smiled. "I see.. Kohona is… nice. No?

Naruto shook his head.. "No way.. its terrible I hated it!"

This seemed to surprise the man before he chuckled a bit then he leaned in pretending Zetsu couldn't hear him if they whispered. "y'no what…" "me too.."

Naruto widened his eyes. "You mean you used to live in Kohona too?"

Tobi stood up and stretched. "Well I guess we better go meet up with the other 2 so we can get started on the mission right Zetsu-sama?"

The plantiod ninja smirked. "I would if I were you.. this won't be a quick mission.."

Naruto nodded and followed Tobi out temporarily forgetting about the cryptic response to his condemnation of Kohona.

They walked on until they came into a small clearing where 2 female shinobi stood. They were athletic and muscular but they held a uncivilized aura to them that canceled out their attractive build.

The brown haired one raised an eyebrow. "You two are supposed to be apprentices of the Zetsu-sama?"

Tobi looked at Naruto who was already narrowing his eyes and about to snap a comment out before he found his mouth covered by Tobi's gloved hand.

The masked man nodded. "We are the subordinates of Zetsu-sama.. I am Tobi and this is Naruto.

Her black haired companion snorted. "Like we care!" "you losers can tag along but you'd better not expect us to babysit you if you can't keep up.."

Tobi now felt his temper boiling. "Now just a second.."

The two girls were already hopping through the trees and called back to the two boys standing in the clearing to hurry up.

Tobi was now officially pissed. Zetsu had done much to quell his abrasive and exuberant personality but these amazons had just rekindled it.

"NOW JUST A DAMN MINUTE YOU FREAKIN BIMBOS!"

Naruto forgot his own rage as he turned to see Tobi blasting off after the two girls that were shooting ahead of them. He sighed and joined his fellow teammates with the ending thoughts._. this will be an interesting month.._

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That month the team of 4 were assigned to track down a group of hunter ninja that were gaining power and reputation for their dangerous conquests.. Apparently Zetsu wanted them out of the picture for personal reasons.

They were told that they existed.. not where to find them.. they were also told to investigate.. infiltrate… and come back with the record log of all the missing ninja theyd been able to thusfar capture.

A month had passed. In that time Naruto and Tobi had come to a grudging companionship with the two ice queens.

After some prying and quite a bit of underage drinking to which Naruto and Tobi were smart enough not to take part in, they were able to learn some information about the two and their relationship with Zetsu.

As it turned out Zetsu had been a specialty Jounin in hidden grass village and had finally been assigned to a team, a young, brash group of 3 girls.

They were all full of arrogance and pride and it had been his calling to break them and mold them into kunoichi that could be used for the hidden grass.

He had started his team mission experience out fairly well. The hidden grass had no D class the village didn't take missions from inside it's own borders.

The lowest class was C.

Eventually a B class mission that was supposed to be an easy infiltration mission with his team acting as hidden lookouts went terribly wrong.

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It started out simple enough.. he easily slipped through the fortress without the slightest hint of detection. Meanwhile the guards of the fortress who had been tipped off from and anonymous source were circling the forest surrounding the temple.

Expecting to find a grass Jounin they instead found 3 young Genin.

The girls immediately sprang to action and began setting up a defensive formation as the guards advanced on them.

It was a even battle for a few minutes, but while the girls had individual skills superior to the guards they were severely outnumbered and Zetsu was still slipping through the unguarded fortress with surprising ease.

But as time wore on the 3 were unable to continue keeping up with the sheer amount of opponents and were overwhelmed.

Now at the mercy of the frustrated and insulted guards they were forced onto their backs and had their hands bound. Next the largest of the guards smirked before gripping the skirt of the one closest to him.

The 3 girls became deathly silent before a cold sweat began to break out on their bodies.

The oldest one was a blonde haired girl with long spiked locks reaching down to her back. She managed to get free by lifting her foot straight up and connecting with her captors crotch. He doubled over in pain and she used the opportunity to grab his knife in her teeth and charge at the others holding her teammates.

After she took out the ones holding her teammates down he was slammed in the back with a steel pipe and dropped to the floor with a fractured back.

She looked over at her teammates and shouted for them to run as she shot her hands out and a set of vines temporarily held the large group in place.

She narrowed her eyes before shaking her head and gritting her teeth as blood dripped from the corner of her lips. "Oh no.. you're not going anywhere.. well.. actually.. hm hm . I guess you are.. and lucky you, it looks like I get to keep you company.."

The guards turned to look at the wide eyed ninja s she pulled a long strip of paper out from her torn blouse with her teeth and held it in her mouth "Now.. you and I are all going to hell!"

The look of anger turned to a look of horror and fear as the men watched the explosive note burn out like a fuse. The girl has positioned herself in the middle of the group.. there was no way any of them would survive this.

And so with a final scream of fury the young Genin and the majority of the surrounding guards were blown to smithereens by the powerful suicide attack sending a shockwave rippling through the forest.

The other 2 girls were running in terror and confusion. They may not have been the closest but that was their teammate.

She had always had it all.. the perfect hair and clothes.. the perfect family, the perfect boyfriend, everything.. and in the end she had been the one to sacrifice herself to save them all.

Zetsu easily assassinated the head and confiscated the blueprints for the lair of the bandit organization before stepping out to see the carnage before him.

He looked around and saw the tell tale evidence of the battle that had taken place before finally glancing up at the exploded carcasses blown open and the disgusting body parts sprayed across the trees.

Suddenly he heard a blood curdling scream and he shot toward the source like a bolt of lightning finally realizing the gravity of the situation. As he found the two girls shaking in fear of the wounded guards he saw the look of pure terror in their eyes and he noticed their torn blouses.

He narrowed his eyes and let out a bestial roar before slaughtering the guards in a wave of animalistic fury that left a streak of carnage nearly rivaling the one he'd seen earlier.

"Sayuki, where's Tamiya?"

the look of horror etched across his student's faces told him all he needed to know.

He bolted back toward the surrounding forest and this tie he noticed the damage around him in a new way.

As he was walking he caught sight of one of the blown open corpses impaled on a broken tree branch. He noticed with sickening realization that the body had a long crimson stained matted strand of blonde hair waving in the sift breeze attached to it.

Zetsu closed his eyes and turned his head before the stench of death became to much for him and he began to throw up as a ringing in his head increased in volume.

Eventually the ringing began causing him physical pain and he gripped the sides of his head crying in sorrow and pain.

Suddenly the cries began to turn into laughter. Cold hard laughter.

His brain had snapped. In order to preserve what was left of his sanity at seeing his oldest student mutilated beyond recognition it had split into two portions.

Back in the village as Zetsu was explaining his new decision to pain one side of his face white and the other black to his students, he said this.

"In each of us there exists darkens and light.. I have done this in order to come to terms with both sides of me.. our paths may soon diverge… so I give you this final piece of advice.. never forget the sacrifice of your teammate.. and never forget the darkness that exists in each of you.. in time you will have to confront it.. I would hope you are ready for that day."

That night Zetsu became a missing ninja of the hidden grass leaving behind all responsibility and loyalty in a trail of slaughtered ANBU black Ops shinobi.

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And so, having learned the truth behind the mysterious Zetsu Naruto and Tobi found themselves with a new found respect for the remaining two girls and their lost teammate.

The drunk girls were wobbling as they stood to climb into their tents slurring their words slightly and giggling. Naruto looked at Tobi and the latter seemed to be deep in thought.

"Zetsu-sama never informed me of this.. and yet he always told me.. the truth behind my beliefs.."

Naruto sighed and looked up at the stars.. "I'm gonna get some sleep.. you take first watch?"

Tobi merely nodded on reflex while still completely lost in his thoughts.

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the next morning Naruto was the unfortunate victim of two very hung over and very impolite banshees.

He had sought some more jutsu's from the Yondaime from Kyuubi last night and she had said the same thing as always.

"No, stop bugging me!"

Naruto sighed, girls were just impossible to understand.

Tobi was out killing the cooking fire as breakfast had been consumed by the two girls leaving nothing for the two boys to get and leaving them both extremely pissed off.

"Oiy.. what the hell.. do you think it would kill you to actually how your teammates some consideration!"

The two girls both dropped their plates and narrowed their eyes dangerously. "well.. no.. that is if we actually considered you team mates.. no one will ever be half the person Tamiya was!"

Naruto narrowed his own eyes. "Well, you're letting your personal feelings get in the way of the mission… and a shinobi that doesn't follow the mission is always trash!"

Tobi turned to look at Naruto with his head cocked slightly.

The blonde boy was about to go off on the ungrateful females again but he decided against it as he looked up and saw they were already jumping into the trees.

He rolled his eyes and jumped up after them.

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"Oiy Sayuki head him off!"

The brown haired girl ran along the ground dodging around trees effortlessly before jumping up and landing in front of the hunter nin on the tree branch.

Naruto and Tobi both came up behind him to prevent his escape. The ninja smirked. Well now.. you can go after me.. that's true.. but then again do you know where your friend is?"

Naruto widened his eyes as he saw the black haired girl being held over a waterfall next to the tree they were standing on.

"Humph.. that drop will kill her for sure.. you have a chance to save her if you all work together but then you'd be losing the only chance you had to get the list of ninja we've captured."

At his signal the ninja released his hold and the barely conscious Kigami dropped down to her approaching death.

Sayuki's eyes went wide as she whispered. "no.. not another friend.. I wont lose another one.."

She shot off the branch and after her falling friend.

Naruto looked over at Tobi and they looked at the retreating hunter ninja with the list they were supposed to obtain.. and then.. they looked back at the falling girl.

Naruto had only a second to make his decision before forming a seal and calling out

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

The set of Naruto jumped off the side and formed a human chain that caught the hand of Sayuki who had managed to catch Kigami.

Naruto's grip began to slip on the slippery branch when suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed his wrist helping him pull up.

Naruto looked upward seeing Tobi pulling him and his clones to safety.

Once all 4 of them were safely on the tree branch they sat down and slowly looked at one another. For once Sayuki wasn't being the ice queen she was known for. She turned to Naruto and with genuine sincerity thanked him for helping them..

The 4 sighed then moved off the tree and to base of the waterfall to recuperate.

While Sayuki was out gathering some herbs for Kigami, Tobi slowly approached Naruto staring a the water and tossing a stone into it watching it skip a few spaces before sinking below the surface.

He sat down beside the blonde and watched him run his hands over his goggles strapped across his forehead.

"Are we really ninja?"

Tobi turned to look at him. "what?"

Naruto sighed and pulled his goggles down over his eyes. "I never graduated from the academy so I never got a had band.. so in a sense I'll never be a real ninja.."

Tobi chuckled.. "I see.. so that's what's troubling you.."

"Partly" Naruto said frowning. "I mean shinobi are tools.. and like I said.. if we sacrificed the whole mission just to save one of our team mates.. how can we really call ourselves ninja?"

Tobi shook his head.. "Man you are an idiot.. first off.. a piece of cloth and a strip of metal do not make a ninja.. the skill and dedication that they put in determines whether or not they can call themselves a ninja.."

"The head band only signifies that a ninja is recognized by his village as one.. and you already told me you don't care about your village's recognition.."

The masked man smirked before removing his mask and revealing his spiked black locks with a set of wide goggles over his two eyes, his left lens being completely black.

"See.. I didn't even keep my headband.. it was crushed under a rock.."

He turned to look off into the distance.

"But you know.. in the ninja world… those who don't follow the mission orders are considered trash.. that's true.."

"But.. someone who doesn't care about their comrades.. is even worse than trash.. at least that's what I think."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah.. I guess you're right.. maybe a ninja would have dropped his team and ran after the mission.. but that doesn't mean doing that would be the right thing to do.."

Naruto grinned looking at his newly unmasked friend. "Yeah Tobi.. from now on. We'll make our own ninja way!"

Tobi grinned curving his visible eye in a upside down arc. "Yoshi! yeah.. and it'll be even better than the normal one!"

Naruto nodded and bumped his closed fist against Tobi's before looking back out over the water.

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Zetsu finished listening to the explanation. He raised his eyebrow. "I see.. so you're telling me you sacrificed the entire mission in order to save one of a 4 man team?"

Naruto nodded unashamedly. Zetsu for the first time since Naruto had known him smiled. "well.. I suppose it can't be helped.. by the way.. Itachi and Kisame ran into the group a few days ago and they dealt with the entire squad as well as the list.

So while you 4 failed the mission it was still completed so I suppose it all worked out.."

"You may leave.." with that the 4 departed.

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As Sayuki and Kigami left they smiled brightly and gave both Naruto and Tobi a hug that nearly drove Kyuubi to come out and rake the girls' eyes out for some unknown reason.

Naruto smiled as he waved to the departing grass ninjas. The 2 remaining girls from Zetsu's squad both made sure to catalog the Name Uzumaki Naruto in their memory for future reference as they had a feeling this wouldn't be the last they heard of him.

And indeed it wouldn't be.

Note: ok chapter 7 is done...

Moving right through the Akatsuki, Naruto is getting uber powerfull..

Next chapter will feature our sharingan master and the fishy sword guy as well as dum dum dum.. a date with kyuubi?

Anyway more craziness ensured in the next chapter of Bloody Pawprints..

Also a side note.. u can go to http/www (dot) myspace (dot) com/gagex2z

Or log on to myspace and look for D.Z.

To see a pic of the 3 snow ninja hikaru, giej and lana in my pic's. it shoudl be at the very bottom.. I drew and colored it on Microsoft paint and added glows and snow in adobe photoshop..

Also it won first place in the Florida State Fair for Computer Art.. so yeah.. check that out if u want also I still have a pic I drew of female kyuubi for this story so lemme know if u want me to post that..

Pace.


	8. Training Complete?

Chapter 8: (Training Complete?)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime or game I'm takin thi shit from.

Review answers.. meh I feel most questions will be answered in the story.. so read on hehe srry for the procrastination of writing it..

Anyway on with the story..

Naruto stood seemingly in a trance outside in the middle of a training ground. No sign or struggle or strain was evident upon his placid emotionless face.

Inside, however, was a very different story. Inside he was desperately trying to avoid the rampage of a 40 foot tall fox. This was one of Kyuubi's training games and while Naruto did want to be stronger he couldn't exactly say he was fond of her brand of training.

If he had been on the outside reality where he was capable of dying he was sure he'd be dead by now. But, in the mindscape of his own consciousness.. he was more or less immortal and this meant she could rake through him as many times as she felt necessary.

Naruto rolled to the side out of the way of a set of doton spikes being thrown up out of the rocky ground. He ran straight at Kyuubi before jumping at the last second and throwing 2 kunai. Kyuubi flared her aura and the kunai stopped and bounced off harmlessly.

Naruto then twisted his fingers revealing chakra thread and placed his other hand over his right one holding the thread strings.

Immediately Kyuubi jumped into the air to avoid the explosion of water. The floor may be like granite but it was still very damp and with an electrical attack with 2 kunai as metal conduits it could be a powerful combination.

While in mid air Kyuubi whipped a tail around and slammed Naruto out of the air like a fly. He shot into a wall and burrowed through it.

Kyuubi landed crouched on all fours watching the wall carefully for when Naruto would emerge and counterattack. After a full minute she tilted her massive head and sighed throwing her head back and allowing a swirling flame to overtake her leaving behind her human form.

She walked over to the hole Naruto had made and shook her head. "Oiy, Naruto.. are you coming out anytime today?"

A muffled sound was heard and some rubble shifted revealing Naruto wobbling back toward the entrance of the hole. He stepped through and chuckled before drawing back his fist and blasting it forward at a blurring speed of 1 mile per hour.

Kyuubi raised an eye as the fist connected with her chin. She was still a little taller than he was but he was rapidly catching up. At least in her human form.. in fox she owned everyone.

Naruto seeing his attack failed just smiled closed his eyes and flopped down sitting on the stool of rock created by his smashing through the wall.

Kyuubi shook her head and chuckled training was over for today. She put her hands on her hips and walked over to him sitting down beside him. "So, I see you still cant last 5 minutes against me.. hmm the Yondaime was able to last 10.."

Naruto grit his teeth. "Well the Yondaime-bastard was a lot older than me!"

Kyuubi looked out of the corner of her eye at Naruto and smiled getting a dreamy look in her eyes and sighing. "Mmm he certainly was." She licked her lips.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and balled his fists up.

Kyuubi chuckled looking at him. "Now now Naruto-kun.. you're not getting jealous are you.. after all we're both single healthy individuals.. there's no reason to get all flustered.."

Then Kyuubi turned around so her back was facing him. "Of course.. you are growing up.. could it be that you're starting to think of me as more than just a friend hmmm?"

Naruto shook his head.. "Ahh Kyuubi eh.. well of course not.. I mean not that you're not really nice to look at and be around but eh.. oh look Sasori-sama is calling me guess I better go huh? Eh hehe jan'e"

The fox lady narrowed her eyes as her container vanished to appear in the outside world. He thoughts began get destructive and violent, they ended with:_ When I get my claws on that wooden Pinocchio wannabe.. ill use him for firewood.._

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Sasori looked at his developing student. He seemed to be in some sort of self induced trance. The wooden man raised an eyebrow and growled in irritation. "Come on kid, the council wants to see you about something.."

Naruto did not stir so he got closer to him and grabbed him by his hair lifting him up to meet his face. "BRAT!! COME OUT OF DAYDREAM LAND AND GET YOUR ASS TO THE COUNCLIN ROOM NOW!!!"

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked around suddenly feeling the pain in his scalp from being hoisted above the ground by his hair. "Ahhh Sasori-sama!! What the hell are you d-"

Naruto's ranting was cut off with a metal claw shooting out of Sasori's arm compartment and smashing him through a wall and a yell following saying "Now get to the room before I have to push you the entire way there!!"

Naruto grumbled climbing to his feet.. "Bah.. what's with all these walls… if I get smashed through one more wall I'm not coming back out.." He sighed and continued on his way to the large circular room.

Finally reaching it he stepped out of the pitch black darkness and into the spotlight he had been in so many times before. The council began speaking almost immediately. "It has been decided that you shall accompany Itachi and Kisame on their next mission."

Naruto blinked. A mission.. did they really think he was ready for a mission yet… no there had to be some kind of trick. The council seeming to sense his apprehension merely chuckled. "have no fear this is no… ordinary mission.. it is the perfect testing grounds for you."

Naruto shrugged. "meh whatever, I can handle any mission you send at me.. I'm just glad you geezers are finally starting to realize my true value and skills."

The council was silent for several seconds before a soft chuckling emanated from the center. A rasp voice said "of course. So be off then and prove your… value and skills.." at this his chuckle grew louder and Naruto felt 3 members materialize to his sides to escort him out.

He sighed and jammed his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit walking off into the pitch black darkness he'd become accustomed to moving in.

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Itachi was standing in the middle of a forest. Naruto was not told the forest nor the location. He had to find him through sensing his chakra. This excersise cost him several hours worth of rabbit trails and dead ends so he had learned to cheat in this area.

Kyuubi had taught him how to separate charkas by their color. This allowed him to differentiate from others. Itachi's aura was a black while his own was blue. Rthe majority of powerfull charkas he found were blue like his own, with a few yellow and pink coming into the equation.

However, Itachi's was the only black he could sense and thus he could find him much easier. The problem was Kisame. Kisame could hide his chakra and his prescience.

Being a member of the mists 7 swordsmen he was an expert at silent fighting, stealth surpassed only by Zetsu and even then he had such a balance of attacking power that he far surpassed Zetsu in worth.

Naruto could not find Kisame. Kisame found him.. and if he didn't find Itachi in a time limit they had planned for him, Kisame would ambush him and then armed with only a kunai he would have to defend against the Samehada swinging shark man.

So needless to say Naruto was headed straight to the black aura and hoping not to have to face Kisame this time. He had barely survived the last time. Kyuubi had laughed and said he was exaggerating but then she wasn't the one being missed by centimeters every slash.

Naruto was running along the ground silently as he had been trained to do and makingn abrupt turns at every other tree. Finally he saw Itachi standing eyes closed in the clearing.

Naruto put on a burst of speed and charged forward jumping into the air throwing out 4 shuriken and forming seals as he dropped to the ground.

Itachi caught the stars effortlessly without opening his eyes. He crushed them like they were made of tin foil.

Naruto finished his seals forming a substitution clone from the surrounding dirt. Her hit the ground and sent his clone rushing forward. Itachi took his hand out of his cloak and smashed the clone in front of him reducing it to clods of dirt. He then brought his other hand out and formed a set of seals causing the dirt clods falling around him to swirl around acting as a shield.

Naruto popped out of the ground and grabbed his leg attempting to drag him under. Suddenly, the leg poofed into a log. Naruto was now trapped in the swirling barrier of dirt.

Then it stopped and fell to the ground as it revealed Itachi still eyes closed standing on the other side.

He opened them revealing his crimson eyes piercing into Naruto's own blue ones. He grunted. "Unimpressive. Your attack was careless.. you are operating at mid chuunin level.." with this he walked off and a quick burst of air was all the warning he had before a huge wrapped object crashed down on Naruto's skull from above. Kisame chuckled. Pulling the large weapon back up and slinging it over his shoulder. "Hehe, tough luck kid.. you aint exactly S class yet, but from Itachi that was a compliment."

Naruto nodded. "yeah he didn't say I was weaker than an academy student So I'm guessing my chakra ouput has stabilized a bit. He rubbed his head. "Y'no that really hurt.."

Kisame laughed. "Good."

As he grinned Naruto reached into his pouch on his left pants pocket and turned around to walk off.

He removed a kunai twirling it around and walking past Kisame his hand flickered for just a second coming back to rest in front of his face. He twirled it again and let it drop into his pouch as the grinning Kisame dissolved to a puddle of water.

Naruto smiled and walked off after Itachi and the real Kisame. He knew that if he kept a medium pace he'd catch up to them by lunchtime. Speaking of which… His stomach grumbled.. _eh.._ he spoke into his mind in a whishper_.. I need some food woman._

A loud rumbling emanated from his core. "**what was that?" **

"er.. nothing."

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Naruto blinked. "Are you serious…" Itachi closed his eyes and pointed to the entrance. The village was more like a city. It was a gigantic complex with marble structures everywhere. Moreover guards were seen at every corner, it was like a fortress.

Naruto shook his head. "It's impossible.. no one said anything about this mission being suicidal!"

Kisame grinned. "What is the mighty prodigy of hard work afraid of a little dirt he might get on' em?"

Naruto beat down the urge to scream in outrage at Kisame's remark. He rolled his eyes. "Ok, explain to me how we're supposed to go about doing this without getting killed.."

Itachi looked at Naruto with a dangerous glare. It was obvious he was annoyed. "Very well, listen carefully as I will not repeat myself again."

"This village has gained power and stability from the daiyamo of this region.. so much so that is has become more of a city than a mere village."

"However, one of the main priorities of the central security agency of it has been to interfere with our network expansions… as such it has been decided that to both eliminate the danger of further interference and to display the power of Akatsuki this village is to be eradicated in it's entirety."

Naruto shook his head. "But even if you say that! Isn't the goal of the Akatsuki to remain as anonymous as possible?!"

Kisame laughed. "Kid you are still wet behind the ears.. the daiyamo would never let it be known that the entire village was destroyed by one single group. It'll probably be blamed on a natural disaster."

Itachi nodded. "And those who investigate it further will find no evidence of our activities… however, it will stand as a example to future potential hindrances we might encounter." Naruto scratched his head. "How?"

Itachi slapped his forehead. "Because even though they don't know who did it they will link it with the interference with the network expansion.. the fear of the deed as well as the anonymity will ensure that no one else will attempt to interfere."

Naruto sighed. "Ahh well, it cant be helped. I guess I'll just have to tear stuff up a bit.. but even still, the whole thing.. mm this wont be easy.."

Itachi shook his head. "No.. it will not. But this will test you.. if you succeed you may be found worthy of obtaining true strength."

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The city was quiet at night. Mizugo was leaning against a post yawning. He hated stupid guard duty. There were like a gazillion guards. Why did he have to be the one standing at night shift every time.

It was his rotten luck. He always lost the jenken they used to determine who stayed up till 3 in the morning looking at a marble wall.

He turned his head lazily and noticed a female guard walk by him. She didn't even pay attention to his wandering eyes.

He dropped his head down in despair. His life sucked. As he lifted his head he saw a blurry figure coming through the night fog. Instantly he snapped alert. "Oiy who's there!"

The figure was relatively small. It wore a black cloak with a large straw hat atop it's head. In addition to this it had 3 scrolls strapped across it's back.

The female guard drew her spear from its position across her waist. She charged forward and attempted to stab the figure the body flickered for a second before vanishing.

Mizugo reached for his com link to call for backup but before he could bring it to his lips the spear the female guard had been holding before was thrust through his torso from behind.

As he dropped the cloaked figure began walking again before flickering and again vanishing.

Mizugo suddenly noticed a strange piece of paper attached to him and the female and his eyes widened as suddenly the paper caught fire instantly incarnating both of them leaving no body to be found.

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Naruto continued moving through the guards but no matter how many he took down more were coming. He'd used kage bunshin no jutsu to make up for the numbers but as soon as one got hit the clone disappeared.

It just wasn't working this way. And he still had 2 more scrolls to go through before he could blow the city up. Naruto needed to gather them all up together and attack them all at once somehow.

But how.. then the idea came to him.

He shot off running and jumped up a control tower he needed to get as high as possible.

Using chakra he stayed stuck to the surface and ran up until he reached the top and shot up into the air and formed the seals for kage bunshin.

Instantly 300 Naruto's were floating in the air with the majority of the guard force chasing him below.

Naruto grinned and had all the clones remove kunai and shot them down at the same time as he blew several balls of fire. The kunai then multiplied several times as they flew causing them to rain down upon the surprised guards.

Then the multiple fire balls hit the ground it created a giant explosion that rocked the earth and Naruto used the hurricane gales of wind to form a shield against the flying debris.

He gently dropped to the ground and surveyed the remaining survivors. He turned to see a bathhouse partially destroyed several girls in towels were huddled together shaking in fear. Naruto's eyes widened. "N-Nani! How did so many of them survive!"

He narrowed his eyes and pulled out a kunai his blue eyes taking on a icy quality. "Then I guess we'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

He twirled and kunai and without taking his eyes off the huddled girls he stabbed the air behind him and a large frog with a katana dropped to the ground before poofing out of existence.

"Oh my.. to defeat a summon of that level so easily.. you're not a normal kid are you?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes still looking at the smoke in front of the girls as it slowly faded revealing a large man with long white hair.

The man was leaning against a half destroyed pillar as he eyed Naruto up and down.

Naruto's grip on his kunai tightened. "Oiy who the hell are you! Showing up like that all of a sudden!"

The man blinked in surprise.. "N-nani! Are you really a ninja!.. yelling so loudly and such a irritating voice.. bah you're just a loudmouthed brat!"

The man showed his pointer finger before wagging it back and forth "But fear not.. for I will tell you who I am!"

"I am the man who has no enemies in the east south north or west!" "I am the ancient sage who commands the might of samurai amphibians!" "I am the great mountain toad sage and most handsome, intelligent, and powerful of all the legendary sannin, Jiraiya!"

"And further more I am a defender of helpless women while enjoying their time in a bath house.. and to anyone evil enough to disturb such a heavenly activity.. I am the punisher of evil!!"

Naruto blinked in confusion.. "Oiy, I've never heard of you! Or your legendary sannin or whatever.. but it doesn't matter you perverted weirdo."

He crouched down slightly "Because after tonight you're name's gonna be the answer on a history test!"

He shot forward and flickered before vanishing.

He reappeared crouching behind the pillar Jiraiya was leaning on and the pillar crumbled. Naruto stood up and looked down at the kunai in his hands.

Jiraiya was standing straight with his arms folded and his eyes closed.

"Oiy, brat."

"A word of advice.."

He unfolded his hands revealing Naruto's kunai tucked between his fingers.

Naruto crushed the piece of wooden debris the man had used to substitute for his kunai when he'd attacked.

Suddenly his cloak opened and the straw hat on his head fell into two pieces revealing Naruto's wide eyed expression.

Jiraiya's chakra suddenly exploded around him. Its force nearly dropping Naruto to his knees as the man's killing intent overwhelmed his senses.

Jiraiya opened his eyes and glared dangerously at Naruto. "Don't underestimate me!"

"Come at me with that level of attack again and I guarantee you.. next time I'll take more than your hat and cape."

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Itachi felt that chakra. Kismae stopped dead in his tracks. "oh my…"

Itachi's eyes widened and he turned around. the mission is canceled, new objective is to retrieve Naruto and escape."

Kismae shot off alongside Itachi traveling at blinding speeds. "But against a guy like him.. I wonder if we can.."

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Naruto felt his entire body shaking. "k-kuso.. I can't move. _Come on get it together… it's just his damn chakra.. I cant even…_

Jiriaya took his time walking past Naruto he stopped in front of him and reached his finger out behind him to touch Naruto's forehead protector and pushed.

Naruto felt him put his finger to his forehead and push then it felt like nothing he'd experienced before. He flew backward and barely caught his footing stumbling back several feet before flipping on his right hand and shooting back up to his feet.

Jiriaya looked at his finger and then to the boy in surprise. Instead of a forehead protector there was a pair of goggles. He'd felt the plastic lens shatter as he'd pushed.

He looked at the boy in shock as he realized that the boy he was fighting wasn't even an official shinobi.

"Oiy kid, where did you gain your abilities from? What village are you from?"

Naruto ignored his question and took a defensive stance finally able to move a little bit as Jiraiya's killing intent had mellowed slightly.

Jiraiya sighed and turned around. "Kid."

"I don't know who ordered you to come here and do all of this but you can't complete your mission. Not with me here.. just go back and tell them that your opponent was Jiraiya from the legendary Sannin of Kohona."

Naruto's eyes widened. "W-what was that."

Jiraiya shook his head. "It's no use I don't want to kill a kid like you with so much skill and potential when he's not even a properly trained shinobi.. Maybe someday we can meet again when you've developed into a man."

Naruto looked at the ground as he grit his teeth together harder. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrow crease began to twitch.

"k-ko- kohana?"

Jiraiya opened his eyes slightly and blocked a kick from Naruto. He blurred out of view his leg still outstretched and appeared to Jiriaya's left. Jiriya's eyes widened. "N-nani you weren't this fast before, this chakra.. it's Jounin level!"

Naruto shot up in a upper cut and Jiraiya dodged and brought his elbow down on Naruto's back sending him crashing into the ground. Naruto immediately pushed up and attacked Jiraiya's shins trying to bring him down. Jiraiya merely sidestepped.

He was becoming irritated now but still amazed as the boy's power kept increasing.

Naruto shot back to his feet and began punching and throwing kicks. Jiriaya blocked and countered them all landing thunderous blows against the brown haired boy sending him smashing into a fruit stand.

Immediately the boy shot out of the wreckage high into the air and put a huge amount of chakra into a punch. Jiraiya caught the punch and switched his grip to the boy's wrist and using his other hand he flipped Naruto over his shoulder. "Yamero!"

Naruto rolled with the throw and continued somersaulting until he hit a upturned rock and popped up smashing his back into a marble wall. He crumpled down and stopped his descent by bracing his left foot. Slowly rising up he was met with Jiraiya's foot crashing into his stomach smashing him through the wall.

Jiraiya sighed. and turned around beginning to walk off. Suddenly the boy's chakra exploded upwards.

"N-Nani!!" Jiriaya turned around to face the pile of destroyed wall chunks. They exploded upwards in a cylinder of electricity and debris.

Jiraiya gritted his teeth and braced himself as the dust around him picked up form the force of the charka. "H-how.. where is this power coming from? how can this kid generate so much power!"

Naruto slowly stood in the center of the swirling debris his head was down as drops of blood slowly ran down his chin.

"K-kuso.. I can't.. not him.. I can't.. I wont.."

"He lifted his head his genjutsu faded. "I won't"

H lifted his right arm up and held it in a claw with his palm facing upwards.

"I WILL NOT LOSE TO A SHINOBI FROM KOHONA!!"

Jiraiya widened his eyes even further as he saw the boy's true face.

"N-nani you're…"

Naruto began to scream as the ball of chakra formed in his palm. His aura exploded around him and he entered into burst mode.

Jiraiya began to take a defensive stance as Naruto's blue ball began to swirl faster and faster.

Naruto shot forward and used his burst mode state to enhance his speed even further. He appeared in front of Jiriaya before the older man could blink.

Jiraiya tried to back step but Naruto shot up at him with his right hand coming up to meet him. He thrust it forward and called out "Eat it Rasengan!!"

The ball connected with the sannin's body and a bright white light exploded around them. Naruto was blown back from the force of the impact and sent rolling and bouncing along the ground before twirling through the air and smashing through a small fence.

The dust cleared and he slowly rose to his feet his vision was clouded by blood dripping down his face. He widened his eyes and slowly he closed them and fell to his knees.

Jiraiya appeared behind him and the body that had been hit with the Rasengan dissolved into dirt. Jiraiya stared at the damage caused by the Rasengan. There was a huge trench carved in the ground and a large crater at the end where the Rasengan had dissolved finally.

He shook his head in disbelief. It wasn't perfect by any means but.. it was a complete Rasengan. This boy had mastered the basic creation.

He looked down at the boy kneeling on the ground panting. "N-Naruto.." he said in disbelief.

Naruto closed his eyes tighter.

"k-kuso… I can't even.."

"kuso…. I don't have any chakra left…my body.. is at it's limit.." he spoke softly to himself barely able to get the words out through his damaged lungs.

Slowly he felt himself slipping into darkness..

"k-kuso.. shimatta.. I.. I don't wanna lose.. to a.. kohona ninja.."

slowly the darkness enveloped him and in the last bits of his consciousness.. he called out a single name..

"Kyuubi-chan.."

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"**Hai Naruto-kun…"**

Naruto appeared floating before her domain.

The might demon fox looked down at the young boy floating there beaten.

"**That one.. he is not like the other's you've been fighting his power.. is on a different level even then that crimson eyes boy and his partner.."**

**Against him.. you cannot stand alone.. I will give you my power, I will lend you my strength.. however, in exchange you must agree to a request."**

Naruto blinked slowly regaining some strength from the constant spirit waves emanating from the room.

"A request.. alright as long as I don't lose to him.. I don't care what it is I'll do it."

Kyuubi's lips curled into a grin revealing her many rows of sharp canines.

"**So be it."**

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Jiraiya took a step back. Naruto had just fallen unconscious whispering the name Kyuubi-chan. The nine tailed fox demon! What did that mean..

Suddenly a surge of red chakra exploded around Naruto's limp frame raising him to his feet. Jiriaya's eyes widened as he realized that Naruto was channeling the power of the fox.

The seal on Naruto's stomach was glowing red and the blood dripping off of him seemed to float up as Naruto lifted his head revealing blood red eyes that bore into the Sannin's very soul.

Jiraiya took a step back as Naruto's red aura continued to surge around him in a cylinder of power.

Suddenly Naruto's lips curled into a feral grin. "oiy, mr. sannin.. block this."

Instantly Naruto appeared above him kicking Jiriaya blocked the kick but it rocked his entire being. He was driven into the ground up to his lower shins.

Naruto blurred out of view and appeared near his back and elbowed Jiriaya countered it again shaking his entire body. But Naruto appeared in front of him and punched him in the stomach.

Jiraiya couldn't twist his torso fast enough and was caught by it. Jiriaya widened his eyes and he leaned forward coughing up some blood.

Naruto sot forward and headbutted the exposed head of Jiriaya sending the sannin falling back. Naruto blurred out of view and appeared above the falling Jiraiya dropping his elbow sending the him smashing down even faster only to run into a now reappearing Naruto who kicked him into a wall.

Jiriaya pushed a hand against the ground and he flipped up on top of the wall breathing heavily.

Naruto appeared behind him and swiped but Jiraiya had already appeared and the ground forming seals.

"**Doton Yomi Numa!" **

immediately a hue swamp engulfed the battlefield and Jiraiya jumped onto the roof of a nearby building.

Naruto stood on top of the swamp using his chakra unfazed.

He shot through the seals then called out.

**Kuchiyose no jutsu!"**

Jiraiya's eyes widened in disbelief as a red light engulfed the area followed by a poof of smoke.

When it faded it revealed the 40 foot tall red fox that had plagued Kohona all those years ago.

Jiriaya took a step back "Nani.. but that's impossible Yondaime-sama sealed you!"

Kyuubi looked at the irritating sannin standing on the building. She smirked and a tail materialized above Jiraiya's head. He shot of to the side and shot through his own summoning seals.

Kyuubi's tail slammed though the building and crashed into the ground. Before restricting and coming to rest behind her again.

Jiriaya now stood on top of Gamabunta.

Kyuubi turned around with Naruto standing on her head.

"**Hmm.. ahh yes the toad.. I remember you.. how nostalgic."**

Gamabunta was visibly shaking.. **"Jiraiya.. you've certainly brought me out in a troublesome place.."**

The Sannin nodded "I'm sorry Gamabunta-san.. but it couldn't be avoided.. Naruto has somehow summoned it out of the seal.."

Kyuubi shot forward and swiped out with her claws. Gamabunta managed to get his sword out in time to block it but the swipe sliced through the treated steel like it was butter.

Gamabunta did manage to escape from the swipe with only a slice across his black cloak.

But immediately after Kyuubi twisted and flickered before reappearing behind the toad boss.

Gamabunta went wide eyed before saying **Jiraiya.. I'm sor.." **he poofed out of existence after being shredded by Kyuubi's claws.

Jiraiya fell to the ground and landed on his back knocking the wind out of him.

Naruto fell to one knee on Kyuubi's head. "Ah.. shit. It looks like my body is at its limit now.."

He struggled to keep his eyes open finally losing the battle and dropping. Kyuubi nodded and faded into shimmering sparkles entering back into the seal.

Jiraiya looked up through a squinted eye to see a black blur shoot out catching the falling Naruto and shoot off of the rooftops fading into the distance.

He struggled to get up and finally rose to look at his bleeding arm. "shi-shimatta.. Naruto.. what.. what the hell is going on.."

He looked around and tried to feel for the chakra signature but he was unable to get any reading.. Whoever they were his companions had vanished.

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Naruto woke up looking at the plain wall of the inn they were staying in. he rubbed his head. Then the memory of what occurred came crashing down on him. He balled his fist up and slammed it down on the nightstand smashing it to pieces.

"Kuso!! I had to rely on Kyuubi-chan's power again.. I still can't even save myself let alone her.. I'm still that weak?!"

"Hmm even so is it really a wooden nightstands fault?"

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow looking at her young container in bed. She was sitting backwards in a chair observing with her palm resting on her chin. "Besides.. you're opponent was that Jiraiya of the legendary Sannin.. in the shinobi world they are among the most dangerous ninja alive.

"For a shinobi of your level to even stand up after a single hit from him without my power is proof of your strength."

"So stop whining and being such a baby."

Naruto sighed. "even if you say that.. no.. I msut get stronger!"

He threw the covers off and punched his palm. "yoshi today I'll do it.. I'll train all day.. I will become stronger i."

Kyuubi put a finger to his lips. "Uh uh."

"N-Nani!.. why not!"

Kyuubi grinned. "Not today Naruto-kun.. remember our deal?"

"in exchange for letting you use my power to stand up to that Sannin… you agreed to any request I might make."

Naruto gulped. "uh.. hai.. I guess I did.. so um.. is it going to take up the whole day?"

Kyuubi widened her grin "hmm.. I dunno.. that's up to you."

Naruto nodded and ran a hand through his blond hair spiking it back up.

"Well what is it?"

Kyuubi closed her eyes and removed her finger from in front of his face. "A date."

Naruto widened his eyes "Nani!!"

Kyuubi nodded. "And it begins now.. so where are we gonna go hmm.. well I guess for starters breakfast."

Naruto.. nodded dumbly but um.. isn't there something else you." Kyuubi shook her head. "Nope. A date."

Naruto sighed and pulled on his orange t shirt to go with his black ninja pants before being literally dragged out the door by the excited kitsune.

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Itachi looked at Naruto and shook his head. "You look like shit."

Naruto nodded and continued walking like a zombie "Arigatou." He mumbled then with a short "I didn't get much sleep last night."

Kisame appeared behind him cocking his head to the side. "And that would be because…?"

Naruto closed his eyes I'll tell you about it on the way back… it's a long story.."

Kisame grinned, "Don't worry we're taking the long route.. we got plenty of time."

Note: wow I finally finished the next chapter yay thx to all the pestering ect.

Yeah I got lazy.. no kyuubi date in detail this chapter.. next chapter maybe.. or I could just skip it and go to the next scene with the consequences for failing the mission. After all the city is still standing.

Anyway lotsa stuff to come next chapter.. hopefully it wont take abother 7 months to get it out.. also don't be flashin will be finished.. it just may be a bit longer.

Anyway.. thx to all fans of my story ect..

Hope you enjoy this installment.

Pace.


	9. Coming of Age

Chapter 9: (Coming of Age)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the other anime or games I'm using to make this shit.

Review Answers: Um.. lots and lots of please review your story is awesome.. well thanks hehe.. No real question's other than Laser's which I have already addressed to him. Aight cool well here's a update, enjoy…

Naruto stood on a cliff. He had a black hooded shirt with a dark band of cloth covering his lower face. He wore a red sash around his waist and large baggy black pants tapering at the end of wrapped up shins. On his back was strapped a Katanna, to his side he had attached several pouches containing shuriken and powders.

He gazed over the edge at the small stream below him. Nine forms in black cloaks stood in a circle around the stream. Naruto slightly crouched before pushing up and flipping over the edge.

He landed and stood now in the center of all 9 members. Standing on the water he caught sight of movement to the side. Instantly his fingers closed around the wooden handle of Hidan's scythe stopping it mere inches from his face.

The other hand had stolen Deidara's clay bird and thrown it like a Kunai at Kisame who twisted his sword to block the explosion.

When Deidara was disarmed Naruto had applied fine chakra needles on the tips of his fingers and severed the blonde clay user's connection points in his arm.

Surprised he fell into the water and through the spray came a metal tail heading straight for Naruto's head. Naruto twisted his grip on the scythe handle sending the unprepared Hidan into the path of the tail embedding in his chest.

Releasing his hold on the weapon Naruto flashed through a lighting fast set of seals and sent and electrical charge through Sasori's metal tail still being held in Hidan's torso.

He felt movement under the water and Naruto jumped up avoiding a Kunai wielding Diedara. The man followed him into the air and threw the Kunai nearly point blank at Naruto's face.

The boy leaned back opened his mouth letting the kunai shoot by shredding the material over his mouth and catching the metal knife in his sharp canines. He completed his flip and twisted avoiding Kisame's slash suddenly his vision began to warp.

Realizing he'd forgotten about Itachi he still held the kunai in his teeth and crunched down breaking it into shards in his mouth. The sharp little shrapnel shot into his mouth making little slices and causing enough pain to cancel the genjutsu without tying up his hands.

He landed kicking Tobi in the chest sending him flying back into a recovering Sasori who knocked him away with a simple swipe.

Before Sasori could reach him, however, a giant Venus Flytrap emerged from the water and swallowed Naruto whole.

Itachi turned and threw 4 ninja stars at blank air which blurred into Naruto. He spit out the metal shards in his mouth canceling the stars and a few headed straight for the Uchiha's eyes. Itachi brought his hands up to catch them in mid air.

Behind him the clone Zetsu had captured exploded inside the trap sending a shockwave rippling across the water. This caused Itachi to lean forward a bit and Naruto spit the blood from crushing the kunai in his mouth into the Uchiha's eyes blinding him.

Itachi was now greatly weakened as he dropped down trying to wash out his eyes Naruto kicked him sending him skidding into the blue haired female member who nimbly dodged around him only to stop short as a set of spike rained down from the sky.

When Naruto had made the shockwave jutsu to immobilize Sasori he had embedded senbon rain jutsu as well into it.

The female smirked. "Not bad kid.." she elbowed back in the air and felt her elbow connect with the blonde's nose sending him staggering. She jumped up and back flipped driving her knee into the same spot pile driving him under the water.

Kisame was already waiting for him and now that Naruto's mobility was slowed he had a serious advantage.

Kisame began slashing and swinging but Naruto was able to avoid the wild attacks before pulling the string on a bracelet producing a retractable poison claw.

Kisame's next attack was parried and the claw was scratched across Naruto's own skin infecting him self with the poison.

He forced it through his bloodstream isolating it with his chakra and swam over to Kisame before biting him on the neck injecting the poison into the unprepared shark man.

Kisame dropped to the floor of the stream as Naruto formed the seals for Kage Bunshin and out of the water 100 Naruto's shot out.

All of them were wiped out in one slice of Hidan's scythe. However, the attack left Hidan in an open position, his partner attempted to cover for him but he wasn't able to get to him before a hand shout out of the soggy ground next to the stream and drug Hidan under ground.

Itachi was just beginning to regain his sight but he still wobbled a bit as he staggered to the side of the river continuing to try to wash out his eyes.

Naruto exploded out of the ground behind him and Itachi flashed through a set of seals instantly still kneeled over and a wall of earth came up shielding him from the attack.

Sasori blasted a rocket at the attacking figure causing it to explode in clumps of dirt. Before Sasori realized it was a clone the ground behind him blew up and Naruto shot out wielding Hidan's scythe. Before he could turn around the wide eyed Sasori was sliced to pieces.

Naruto kicked the core of his regeneration into the water not allowing it to reform before the blue haired female blurred into view under him and swept her leg out breaking the scythe in half.

Naruto grabbed the two pieces and began attacking the female with the two halves when Kakuzu came behind him and began going through seals.

Naruto twisted the bladed half at the right time causing the block the female used to break off one of the blades sending it flying straight at Kakuzu interrupting his seals and causing him to dodge it.

He continued raining down blows with the two broken handle pieces to the female shinobi as she was forced backwards dodging and blocking. She attempted to parry one but Naruto twisted with the motion and continued the assault in unbroken pace.

She snarled. "Damn this kid's good.."

Naruto held the handles out to the side and began twirling them in circular motions before stopping throwing them at the female ninja one after the other.

She realized that if she stopped one of them the second would be directly behind it so she wouldn't be able to stop them both dodging her entire body was also not an option as they were moving too fast.

She flashed through a 2 seal jutsu using her hair as a shield deflecting both of the handles.

However, this also blinded her and Naruto blurred into view behind her and delivered a chop to the back of her head sending her crumpled into the water.

He was punched in the side of the face and sent skidding along the water before catching himself and he turned to counter Kazuku's next attack. He grabbed his long Akatsuki cloak and twisted it over the surprised money holder's head.

He then proceeded to flash out a series of attacks to the immobilized man dropping him under the water.

Itachi finally stood and glared at Naruto through his slowly focusing eyes before flashing through a set of seals and calling out

"**Katon: Goakyouu no Jutsu!"**

Naruto turned around just in time to see a wall of flame coming at him. He crossed his arms in front of his face to block the brunt of the attack and was consumed by the fiery blast.

Itachi finally let his attack die down and revealed Naruto standing with his arms in guard position now shirtless and slightly burned 10 feet away still standing on the water.

Naruto's eyes took on a golden tint. "Burst mode!" he growled and vanished before appearing under Itachi and throwing a kunai point blank.

The Uchiha caught it with one hand the other deflecting the now reappearing Naruto's punch from his back. Itachi twisted his wrist into a grip and pulled Naruto into a elbow dropped into his stomach.

Naruto's eyes went wide and he coughed but the coughing soon turned to a dark smoke.

Itachi's narrowed his eyes and looked at the kunai he's caught earlier. He tried to throw it but the invisible flash bang tag went off with a small explosion knocking him off balance.

Naruto continued his poison mist jutsu as he flipped on to his feet standing on the water Itachi was covered in a cloud of poison smoke and breathing even a bit of it in would be fatal.

As the mist faded it showed no trace of the Uchiha. Naruto looked around and jumped up expecting an attack from under the water.

Instead he was met with a barrage of flaming balls coming from the sky. Naruto flashed through a set of seals and without bothering to call the name produced a giant water dragon swimming through the balls canceling them out. Naruto and Itachi dropped back onto the stream around the same time.

Naruto noticed a water dragon coming from both sides at him.

Naruto rolled his eyes_ Hmmph.. so he copied the jutsu and doubled it in the time it took gravity to pull him back down.. why am I not surprised.._

Naruto moved slightly and the first dragon rushed past him into the water the second one he canceled by smashing it with his right hand. Meanwhile Itachi had charged forward and a set of seals later his hand was encased in a green flame as he charged forward.

Naruto held out his palm and formed a swirling ball of chakra. The ball exploded outward seemingly becoming unstable and swirling more rapidly before he pulled his arm back and began running at Itachi.

They both collided and the small stream exploded upward sending waves blasting backwards from the two attacks charging with pure chakra.

Naruto and Itachi were blown back and the green flame lit the returning water aflame with an eerie green glow.

Naruto handspringed backwards before back flipping and blasting out two flash bomb kunai knocking the flaming water around Itachi's recovering form stalling him.

Naruto gasped and fell to his knees drained of chakra.

A voice spoke solemnly behind him. "Tired already.. Naruto?"

Naruto stood and took a deep breath before turning and catching the rock thrown at him. He crushed it into dust and dropped it to the waters surface.

"Heh, you wish Shido.. I'm gonna take you all down.. I've been waiting for you old man!"

Shido nodded smirking before releasing a wave of massive killing intent. "Then come little fox.."

They shot toward each other and a clash of sparks and the occasional blur of motion was evidence of their battle. Naruto suddenly appeared shooting backwards making a trench in the water and crashed into the canyon side.

Shido barely had time to cock his head to the side before the boy shot out of the rubble and a fist embedded into the older man's face.

Shido stumbled backwards as Naruto formed a set of chakra strings in his free hand and jumped up dropping his elbow on the back of Shido's head then wrapping the strings around his neck he allowed himself to drop into the water and drug Shido down with him.

Sasori was finally finishing regenerating when Naruto's body came twirling out of the water and crashed into a tree dropping to the ground.

He slowly rose as Shido appeared behind him with his lip trailing blood.

The man smirked. "It's done, I've seen enough..."

Naruto merely chuckled weakly before dropping to the ground in a sitting position.

The rest of the immobilized Akatsuki recovered soon after and joined Shido in standing around the exhausted Naruto.

Shido spoke. "So, let's analyze your attack plan."  
firstly, you knew Itachi was the largest single threat so you made sure to immobilize him early in the fight.

"

"In addition to this you knew he relied on his eyes.. knowing this was his strength you attacked it full force and succeeded in delaying him long enough to immobilize the others."

When fighting the multiple attackers you used their own attacks against each other and forced their own individual strengths against themselves."

"Only one word can describe that battle.. brilliant."

"To face all 9 of the Akatsuki at once is a feat I alone could have claimed.

At your current state I believe you could have killed 5 of them even fighting at once.. At any rate you immobilized all of them and still had enough power left to actually make me bleed.." "And, as is the most impressive, you did not tap into the Kyuubi's power even once.."

"In my assessment of your skills I find you to be well above the level necessary to join us as a core member.."

Tobi chuckled.. "That's for sure.. I mean wow Naruto.. that kick you gave me almost knocked me out from the pain...

That special training you and leader did is a freakin unfair advantage man.."

Itachi nodded. "It is true the skill you have shown us today far exceeded anything I ever dreamed possible while supervising your training.."

The rest of the Akatsuki all agreed. It was simultaneous.

Naruto nodded slowly stood. "I appreciate the praise.. I couldn't have become this strong without your help.. but.."

Shido nodded sighing. "As I expected.. you aren't satisfied yet.."

Sasori raised an eye. "Oh.. what's this development?"

Shido nodded. "This battle was a special test.. as you know to face all of the collective Akatsuki at once is not a normal test of initiation.."

"If Naruto passed he had a special option.."

Naruto stood and bowed. "I will never forget what you have taught me here, the things I have learned and the ties I have made… but.. I have a dream.."

"I want to protect the most precious person in the world to me.. and in order to accomplish this I have to get stronger.. There is no plateau I can rest on.."

"That's why… with your permission I request to be allowed to leave and seek out this greater power."

Kisame chuckled. "Well kid, I cant say I'm surprised.. or that you aint earned it.. shit.. what the hell, you got my vote.. Get stronger so we can tear it for real next time."

Itachi nodded. "When time comes to extract the other Bijuu's I may request you be present.. Until that time.. you have my leave to do as you wish."

Shido loked at Naruto. He didn't want the kid to leave. In a way it was like he was his own son.. But, he knew the power behind his dream.. and he could see.. Naruto's true potential hadn't even begun to be reached..

The ambition in him had to see it.. he had to see the power the boy could achieve.

Shido bowed his head. "Alright. Naruto, you passed the final test and earned your freedom.. but your ties with us will never be cut.. the time may indeed come when we call upon you.."

Naruto nodded. "You are all precious to me.. when that time comes I will do everything in my power to help."

Shido smirked. "Well then, tomorrow at dawn.. you are given permission to leave."

Naruto bowed and smiled. "Thank you Shidousha."

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Sautobi tuned around expecting to find some Chunin trying to work her way up the ladder by handing in the forms early. He did not expect to face the stern face of his former pupil.

"Jiraiya!? What are you doing here?"

The toad sennin narrowed his eyes. "Uzumaki Naruto.. what happened?"

Sarutobi sighed, "This will take some time Jiraiya.. how did you find out about it?

The white haired Sannin sighed. "A year ago I faced a boy attacking a village.."

Sarutobi widened his eyes.. 'are you saying this boy is Naruto!? And what do you mean faced?"

Jiraiya explained the events of the battle and stopped just as the boy had made his outburst."

"What happened? Why does he hate Kohona so much?" "Do you know he actually summoned the Kyuubi!"

Sarutobi paled.. "Summoned…"

It all made sense now.. the boy's eager studies in everything involving summoning.. cleverly hidden in the guise of 'it being a cool jutsu.'

But, in fact, he was researching a way to bring the creature back.. the old man sat down shocked. "How.. did this happen.. how did he find out? It was forbidden to mention.."

Jiraiya shook his head. "I don't know.. but I don't think your realize just how dangerous he could become.." "he never graduated the academy did he?"

Sarutobi shook his head. "No.. he wasn't marked as a missing ninja because of his failure to reach the rank of genin.." Jiraiya shook his head. "The boy was fighting a B class level."

"And.. somehow.. he was capable of performing the Rasengan.." "The reason I didn't come to you then was because I wanted to find out who had been training him.. where he had attained his power from?"

"The answer took awhile to find.. but when I finally did.. I wish with all my soul I hadn't.."

"You are aware that Orochimaru left the village shortly after the announcement to make the Yondaime Hokage.. However, I monitored him for quite some time after he left until he came to a certain organization.."

"It is known as the Akatsuki. Comprised of only 9 members.. but each and every one of them is listed as an S class criminal.."

"When 9 shinbobi like that get together. The goals they have aren't going to be small scale.."

"The boy I fought one year ago is definitely connected to this organization.." "And if it is indeed Naruto.. then a group of this caliber.. now has possession of the most powerful Bijuu in the world."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and places his palms on the desk of the paling Hokage. "Now, I need you to tell me everything about that boy's life until the time he left the village."

Sarutobi sighed.

And began.

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Naruto slowly walked forward. He had on a Orange t shirt with a long black sleeve rolled up coming out of his right arm. His left sleeve was cut short and he sported a metallic bracelet on his wrist.

He had on a black backpack with several items from each of his teachers: A scroll for higher level water jutsu's from Kisame, preservation techniques from Sasori and Zetsu, a scroll Itachi had taken with him when he'd left Kohona, the current level of summoning research to allow longer perpetuation, a blank forehead protector from Tobi that he'd left pure clear metal telling Naruto to carve in the symbol when he'd found himself, and a map to the location of a legendary scythe from Hidan.

He wore baggy black pants with white bandage wrapped shins and black ninja sandals.

Naruto's short blonde hair was left down framing his grinning face. His blue eyes sparkled with a radiance not seen since the days of Kohona's Yondaime Hokage himself.

He bowed slightly as he walked out of the cavern surrounded on all sides by the Akatsuki members who had removed their hats in respect.

Just as he was about to move past the final one Shido smirked and called out.

"Oiy, brat!"

Naruto turned around and raised an eye brow. He suddenly shot out his hand and caught a speeding metal blur headed straight for his head.

He widened his eyes. In his hands he held a silver ring with a red ruby and a black kanji reading Sun under it.

Naruto turned to his left and watched as the grinning blue haired female Akatsuki member handed him a black bundle.

Shido spoke. "Although you have chosen not to accept official initiation we as a collective wish to impart these symbols on you as a reminder that you will always be one of us."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks.. I'll wear them with pride."

Naruto reached in his pocket and pulled out a black string. Putting it through the Akatsuki ring he wrapped it around his neck and put the black cloak bearing the red clouds around his shoulders.

He bowed and slowly stood tall nodding before turning and slowly walking out towards the dense forest.

And that is the day that Uzumaki Naruto left his teachers and family of the Akatsuki and took the next step into a future so great it would be told of for years to come.

Note: ok bp chap 9 is out yay next up is dbfs then hollowed space,,

However: very important update: I DEFEATED MAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now for those of you that don't know what this means, I will break it down for you.

I play final fantasy 11 and I have a dark knight at lvl 70, now , my drk had to beat a npc named Maat in order to be able to level to 75 which is the max lvl.

So.. I attempted it 390 some days ago. I have failed to defeat Maat 22 times, but today, I beat him. It's done… I can now lvl to 75 after over a year of trying : ) !!!!!!!

Very large accomplishment. Anyway hope u like the chapter next up is a new direction that some may or may not have seen coming. I can say it will be good.

r/r

pace.


	10. Unlikely Allies

Chapter 10: (Unlikely Allies)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the other anime or games I'm takin this shit from.

Review answers:

K starting with Mute Thunder: Naruto is currently 13 years old. The same age as the assassination of the Sandaime and the fight with Sasuke in the Valley of End.

DarkSyde14: thankyou for the compliment, yeah I'm goin for a bit more mechanical fighting element here than the simple he knocked him 3 miles across the ocean before smashing into a volcano type style. This story will be focused more around using the environment and the opponents' weaknesses against them in how they fight.

GLH: My math is not off. Tobi is not a part of the Akatsuki, nor is Orochimaru, nor is Naruto. Orochimaru is a deserter; Naruto and Tobi are merely subordinates training to one day become members. As for the leaf not knowing about the Sound. Yep yall caught me I screwed up. But guess what? I don't care hehe.. Aaaand… guess what else? I'm not goin back to re write it to fix it. Call it a inconsistency and move on. Though thanks for pointing it out I do appreciate that.

Konradamkool: Hmm, well y'know I've liked the idea of this paring for quite awhile. But I've seen some really bad attempts at it. And I have to say this story is teetering on the edge of jumping into the super speed category. So I'm backing up a bit. At the moment Kyuubi is Naruto's friend. Romantic relationships are… Ehh well there's still time to steer my story away from I'm a evil demon fox but after seeing you go through some shit I'm gonna turn into Naruto-kun this poor baby that.

Kyuubi's flirting is not taken seriously on the premise that although they did spend the majority of 2 years getting to develop a friendship she's still a super demon queen and he's a 14 year old kid. There's really no reason that she'd fall for him, so she flirts with him to try to corrupt him and to amuse herself. She enjoys seeing him flustered because it gives her a sense of power. Also her kindness is limited mainly to Naruto she's very untrusting of everyone and she really doesn't care about other human life in general.

Honebar: I am aware of who Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Kushina are. The Yondaime Hokage was named Kayaku. That's not going to change. As for Kushina and Even Pein I may be able to work something in there.

Thanks to all reviewers I will continue to slowly chug along till it's done.

And now on with the story..

A dim light cast from a few scattered candles provided the only visible proof that the two figures were indeed in the room. The small flames, set atop the melting wax cast a gentle glow on the tight and strained features of the pale faced man. "Curse that infernal old man! How dare he steal my jutsu, Once I regain my arms I will take pleasure in grinding his precious village to dust!"

His silver haired companion scribbled through his latest failed ingredient list for a remedy. "It's truly perplexing Orochimaru-sama, I can't isolate the problem.. It's as if your arms simply aren't there. There's no blood flow, no chakra signal of any kind, it's mind boggling. I'm not trying to doubt the medical expertise of the person we're looking for but I have to wonder if there's really anything that can be done medically to restore them.."

Orochimaru let his lips curve into a cold smirk. "I'm certain, in all the world there is no one with the skill or knowledge to rival that person. Even restoring the very life to my arms is but a simple operation to someone of their caliber."

Kabuto smiled and adjusted his glasses. "I must admit as a fellow medical ninja I can't help but be excited to meet the one hailed as the best, or to see them in action."

Their musings were cut short as a sound Jounin came running up to the room and bowed low. Kabuto glanced over and released a latch allowing them to enter the room.

The Jounin knelt down to whisper in Kabuto's ear and the silver haired man rose bowing to Orochimaru following the Sound ninja out the door. A few minutes later Kabuto walked in and looked at Oorchimaru with a smirk.

"We've found her."

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Naruto yawned loudly for the 5th time that morning. Kyuubi paid the small blonde no mind as she aimlessly walked through the beautiful garden

He was wearing goggles, an orange jacket, a black t shirt, black ninja pants, sandals, and a red backpack. His tall red headed companion wore a short elegant reddish pink kimono with elaborate flower patterns decorating it, cut off a bit higher than the middle of her hips. On her right calf she wore 2 oversized golden rings seemingly held in place by magic. She walked barefoot making nearly no sound as she moved across the wooden bridge listening to the rushing water passing underneath them.

The blonde haired boy lazily turned his head moving his bright blue eyes across the scenery. He snorted. "Meh, what a waste of cash this place is way too expensive.. You know how much ramen you could buy with all the cash the dude musta spent on this place…"

Kyuubi rolled her eyes. "Well I think it's beautiful. Mortals have a strange way of expressing their love but it's certainly a romantic gesture.. none of the other Youkai would have thought of a gift like this for their mate."

Naruto chuckled. "I guess so.. Still it seems kinda big to me if it's made for just one person." He scratched the back of his head and looked at a line of people moving into a stone doorway. "Hey look they're moving on ahead of us."

Kyuuubi waved her hand dismissively "I don't care. Let them go it's not like we'll actually be lost anyway, I like it here I wanna look around some more. she sniffed the air.

Naruto yawned again and hopped up on the rail tucking his legs under the support board. she turned and looked at him out of the corner of her eye with a mischievous glint. Naruto's hand materialized in front of his chest gently gripping the kitsune's hand stopping her from pushing him over into the water. He smirked and yanked her into him bringing his other arm around her in a bear hug.

Kyuubi pouted her lips before smiling and leaning forward pursing her lips. Naruto leaned back to avoid the sudden kiss and he over extended letting her go and flailing his arms to no avail before falling onto the water. He quickly brought his chakra together to prevent from falling under the surface. He rose to his feet but before he could blink Kyuubi stood behind him resting her chin on his shoulder.

A soft music began emanating from the inner castle, most likely a part of the tour meant to enhance the experience. As the melodious tune reached the ears of the fox lady she closed her eyes and began humming and swaying back and forth with the tempo. Her head still rested on Naruto's left shoulder leaving her swaying face in very near proximity to his face and every time she moved to the right a stray strand of crimson red hair lightly smacked against his cheek.

Naruto's face turned red as a tomato. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes before she spontaneously opened her eyes and pulled her head up gripping him by the shoulder and spinning him around. Like everything else she did, this was a single graceful movement leaving him slightly disorientated and wobbling. She rested her soft hands against the back of his neck and let the other rest on his wrist. This sent an electric jolt through Naruto's spine nearly causing him to nose bleed and drop unconscious. He shook his head trying to clear it and looked into Kyuubi's ruby red eyes. She tilted her head as she resumed swaying her hips dragging him along for the ride. "I wanna dance, come on." Naruto shook his head. "Uh I don't know how.." Kyuubi interrupted him and pulled him to the side as she bounced up and down switching her movement to the more upbeat tempo of the new song. "Just follow me. " Naruto nodded and did his best to keep up with the bouncing and swerving Kitsune.

She led them in little mini circles all across the lake as they effortlessly stood atop the water. Kyuubi then decided to get fancy and grabbing his wrist she leaned out using his static body to pull herself back in and leaned back for him to catch her and hold her to look up at him.

Naruto didn't know he was supposed to catch her, however, and so when she leaned back she dropped right through his hands and plopped into the water.

Naruto's eyes widened and he instantly began sorting through complex jutsu and escape plans that might prolong his existence for a few more seconds. He never got a chance to execute any of them when a slight bubbling of the water in front of him slowly gave way to a rising head of red hair stopping when a set of glowing red eyes became visible. The head traveled the short distance over to him and Naruto was paralyzed from the sheer killing intent coming from the slow moving head. The water began to boil from the heat it emitted and turned it into a hot spring releasing gaseous bubbles from the sides as Naruto attempted to take a step back.

The head finally came to a stop directly in front of him and rose up a bit more revealing a mouth. "Naruto-kun..." Kyuubi cooed sweetly. A fist exploded out of the water connecting with his crotch and his eyes bugged out of his sockets before he dropped like a stone into the boiling water. Kyuubi exploded out of the water with red chakra swirling around her acting as a self dryer. She looked at the quivering boy under the water and formed a tail of red chakra from her lower back reaching it in and wrapping it around Naruto's ankle.

The boy was hoisted high above so his upside down head was eye level with Kyuubi's. She wore an unamused frown as she poked him in the fore head directly under his quickly fogging goggles. "You need to learn how to dance."

The blonde haired boy, finally regaining control of his body feebly lifted his right arm and gave a weak thumbs up while still dangling upside down. "I'll look into getting some lesson's Kyu-chan." Kyuubi broke into a grin and summoned 7 other tails of red chakra out of her lower back to join the first and she lifted them up to tickle her captive prisoner. "Good container."

Naruto began to laugh uncontrollably but unable to escape the woman's grasp he was powerless to stop her. Kyuubi slowly lowered her tails until the only one remaining was the one holding his ankle. "Hmm good container indeed,, Here.. I'll give you a treat."

She lowered him a bit lower so his head was just above her chest. As Naruto focused his eyes he noticed he had a direct view of Kyuubi's impressive cleavage. He closed his eyes and shook his head as blood trickled out of hhis nose.

Kyuubi laughed evilly. "Ne, Naruto-kun.. what's wrong.. after all we did spend all night in that hotel bed on our date didn't we?"

Naruto continued shaking his head. "Yeah, playing board game's all night, which might I add.. I won the majority of."

Kyuubi closed her eyes and grinned ferallly. " Well that's true hehe G-6 Mmm, you sunk my battleship."

Naruto stopped struggling and he looked to the side with a annoyed look on his face. "You are the only one who could turn that into a sexual innuendo." He muttered.

Kyuubi just grinned showing a fang hanging from her upper lip.

Naruto closed his eyes and shook his upside down head. "Hentai Kitsune."

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Kabuto ducked under a branch as he followed Orochimaru bouncing through the trees. "I also know a little about Tsunade-sama..

I was part of the medical squad after all.. I know that she was the first one that came up with the proposal to have medical specialists in a 4 man squad. That was a landmark in history. What would happen to a combat squad if there was no one to administer emergency treatment on the battlefield?"

He smirked. "The result is quite obvious."

Orochimaru nodded solemnly. "Hmm the many countless wars.. brought about many advances, that were made possible by many sacrifices. When a person loses something he is able to realize its importance. And what created one of the legendary Sannin who has been praised as a medical specialist, were the sacrifices."

Oorchimaru laughed maniacally as he shot through the trees picking up speed. He was beginning to grow excited. "Soon, I will have my power back kukuku."

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"Tsunade-sama please wait." Shizune pleaded running up behind her. "What happened? It's like a miracle for you to win this much but you look so gloomy."

Tsunade looked around uneasily. "This city.. I have a bad feeling about this place. We're going to leave."

"What? But this place is a tourist resort." Shizune protested. She looked thoughtful. "I know, let's go and look at the castles and enjoy the place."

Tsunade started to walk off and rolled her eyes. "Then go take a look so we can leave quickly." Shizune hurried after her mentor calling for her to wait up.

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Orochimaru collapsed against a pillar. Instantly, Kabuto was at his side. "Orochimaru-sama?!" the pale faced man growled. "Let's finish this business quickly... Even if we have to get a little rough."

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Naruto Twisted his wrists in a wringing motion for the twentieth time and watched as a bit of water dripped from the taught orange jacket. He frowned. "Really Kyuubi-chan did ya have to knock me into the water to prove your point." Luckily the said fox was not here to hear the blonde's complaining. She had chosen to find a drink bar to get some wine while he set up their food sack like a picnic. He chuckled lightly at the thought of that; the great 9 tailed demon fox and a human boy were having a picnic together.

He slapped it out and tied the sleeves around his waist deciding to let it air dry as a belt. Naruto found a secluded spot under a large tree. Behind them was the stone castle wall providing a suitable resting space for their backs. Naruto lightly tossed the sack down against the wall. He then turned around and took a good look at Tanzaku castle. It was a decent view but if he was at the top of the tree he knew he'd see a much better portion. Using his chakra to stick to the surface he jogged up the tall tree and hopped to the top.

He focused in and got a breathtaking view of the massive feudal castle. Seconds later the middle exploded outwards. And the surrounding structures crumbled as well. A giant worm shot up out of the dust and moved over to the wall. Naruto was completely caught by surprise and didn't react immediately. He just stood there staring at where Tanzaku Castle used to be as the giant worm slithered past him and then poofed out of existence.

After a full minute Naruto shook himself out of his stupor and turned a round. From his vantage point he could see quite far and he used this to his advantage to try and locate Kyuubi. She was suppressing her chakra so as not to draw attention to themselves so he couldn't sense her by signature.

Suddenly he senses kicked in and he leapt from the tree just as the wall next to his foodsack blew inward before crashing down onto the small bag and bashing into the tree.

Naruto landed on the balls of his feet crouching and turning into a roll. He rose up and looked at the debris all around their foodsack and narrowed his eyes. Some had robbed him of lunch.

His eyes flashed a cool blue glow. Someone was going to pay.

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Shizune gazed up at the massive structure. "Wow, Tanzaku castle is impressive! I can see why it was classified as a cultural landmark."

"Don't be so carefree we're leaving the city." Tsunade admonished walking away. Shizune once again hurried to catch up and whined. "Aww Tsunade-sama can't you take a closer look? I mean it's free to look at after all.."

Suddenly Tsunade stopped. "What's this chill I feel?" she murmured softly. She turned to look at the castle.

Suddenly the structure exploded outwards as smoke billowed out in massive clouds.

Tsunade and Shizune widened their eyes in surprise.

As the smoke faded a hissing sound emanated from the bottom of the structure and a giant head of a snake rose up revealing two figures standing on it's head.

Shizune narrowed her eyes. "That's.."

"Orochimaru." Tsunade finished.

Said man chuckled before mockingly calling out. "I found you."

The two of them jumped off the snake and it poofed into smoke as they landed in front of Tsunade and her disciple. The blonde woman spoke first. "It's been a very long time, Orochimaru." She made mental note of his condition. "What do you want with me?" Kabuto closed his eyes. "You should have already guessed it by now Tsunade-sama."

The blonde woman shook he head. "Forget it, ask someone else, I quit medicine a long time ago." Kabuto shook his head slightly. "The legendary kunoichi who won her fame as the medical specialist, Tsunade-hime.. only you can cure this."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "The wound affecting your arms isn't an ordinary one is it? What did you do?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Nothing much, I just got wounded killing the third, that's all."

Tsunade and Shizune took a step back feeling the stone wall behind them. Tsunade closed her mouth and lowered her head slightly. "You... did you really?"

Orochimaru shrugged. "You don't need to look so scary. All things with form eventually perish, that goes for people too. You should know what I'm talking about.. since you let two of your loved ones die."

Tsunade's eyes began to twitch as they boldly displayed her fury.

Orochimaru, however, paid it no mind. "Oh yes, ku ku, thier deaths were gruesome." he smiled.

Shizune shot forward with a snarl screaming "You scum!" She landed in front of Tsunade and launched a barrage of poison darts from a launcher on her wrist. Kabuto immediately intercepted them.

Shizune shot at him and dashed from side to side.

_She's fast.. _Kabuto thought.

Shizune reached for a needle inside her robe and screamed "Get out of the way!"

Kabuto drew his own weapon and refused saying "I won't let you!" Shizune's assault was halted when Tsunade commanded her to calm down.

She hopped back keeping her guard up and taking her place at Tsunade's side.

Tsunade smiled sweetly. "Orochimaru. You've been like that since the old days, she closed her eyes and widened her smile playfully. You know what my personality is like right? Stop joking around."

Tsunade slowly brought her eyebrows down and opened her eyes to mere slits permeating rage and slammed her fist backwards into the stone wall behind her. Cracks spread out from the contact before the entire wall crumbled to pieces.

Kabuto blinked in surprise. _She's strong..._ the debris crashed to the ground all around them raining small fragments of stone. _And scary..._ _I bet she's single.._

Kabuto shook his head and held his arms out in surrender. "We didn't come to fight.. we came to negotiate."

Tsunade cocked her head to the side. "Negotiate?"

Suddenly a voice came from behind her as the dust finally started to settle. "I'd like to negotiate. Negotiate where the hell you're planning on takin me for lunch since you just smashed my entire food sack!"

A young boy with spiky blonde hair, goggles keeping it in place, and a black t shirt, black ninja pants with an orange jacket tied around his waist and cerulean blue eyes walked out of the fading smoke. He folded his arms and glared at the group of people in front of him. Orochimaru glanced to Kabuto. The silver haired man took the hint. He stepped forward and bowed politely. "My apologies, young man.. However we're discussing grown up things at the moment I will compensate you for your losses once we're done."

Naruto laughed boisterously. "Che, like I'm supposed to buy that, no I aint movin till you pay up now Dattebayo!"

Kabuto narrowed his eyes, his false disguise of friendliness vanishing. "Now listen her you brat, This is the grown ups table, either scram or you'll lose more than a day of lunch."

Naruto unfolded his arms and brought a weak fist into his other cupped hand cracking his knuckles. He grinned ferally. "So you geezer's wanna play huh. Fine by me"

Tsunade flicked a small pebble at the top of the blonde's head skimming it through his spiked hair looking like a mini meteor blasting through a golden field of wheat. "Oi gaki, these guys are way out of your league, go home already."

Naruto moved his head to dodge the projectile but was surprised by the sped which it had been launched. His head had been skimmed. That was a feat. He turned to look at the blonde woman who's been able to land a hit on him by flicking a rock. Examining her he didn't find anything particularly threatening or dangerous.

But he could see the underneath that pretty exterior lay a much more formidable foe. He had been underestimating them. If they were at this level he might have to actually put a little effort into this. Kabuto growled. "Enough, Orochimaru-sama I will remove this pest please don' let this minor nuisance obstruct your negotiations any further."

Naruto's eyes widened and his head snapped around to view the pale faced man. "Orochimaru.." he echoed.

Kabuto shook his head. "That a simple boy like you would hear of Orochimaru-sama's legend is quite surprising, however you needn't worry yourself with him."

Kabuto twirled his curved hawkbill knife. "You see… you have to deal with me now."

Naruto glanced at Kabuto and a smirk traveled across his face. "I thought you looked familiar." He muttered. Kabuto didn't hear what he said but then again he hadn't really tried.

Kabuto flicked the handle of his knife up, caught it in his teeth, and began forming seals for a jutsu.

Naruto snickered. "Oh you wanna make hand signs huh, well I got a hand sign for ya. He held up his right had and then made some random elaborate motions around it with his left before dropping all the fingers but his middle and proudly flicking Kabuto off. The silver haired man gritted his teeth and vanished in a poof leaving a small hole of upturned ground.

Beside Naruto's foot a hand shot up and wrapped around his ankle in a vicegrip. The body of Naruto suddenly poofed into smoke revealing Kabuto to be gripping a log. Wrapped around the log was a burning piece of paper. The rest of Kabuto's body emerged from underground and ran face first into a nearly burned out tag.

By the time his brain told his arm to throw it, it was already glowing white. The explosion blew back the upturned earth and caused Tsunade and Shizune to hop to the side to avoid some debris.

Orochimaru widened his eyes and blinked in surprise as his hair was blown bnack around his face. Now he was interested in this little brat.

Out of the smoke the curved hawkbill knife shot out and flew right at Naruto's form. Tsunade tilted her head to the side. She had seen something when he'd made a substitution but just barely. She'd been able to follow him and new his current position but the fluidity he'd executed that jutsu had been Jounin level.

Naruto's left hand flickered in front of his face and revealed a kunai. He deflected the knife and sent it flying to the side Naruto was already kicking and the knife handle connected sending it flying to the side. Kabuto's body blurred into view as he twisted his body around the deflected knife and lost momentum skidding to a stop. Naruto's kunai twirled around slicing through the invisible stitching thread that had been about to wrap around him and severed it from the handle of the discarded knife.

Kabuto narrowed his eyes. "Impressive brat, tell me how did you see through my attack and know that I attached invisible thread to the knife?"

Naruto shrugged never lowering his kunai from defense. "Well it's obvious that you wouldn't just send a straightforward attack like that so I looked for a hidden attack inside of it."

Kabuto chuckled. "I see, well then I suppose I'll take you a bit more seriously then. It seems you have a little skill after all." Kabuto flashed through a few more seals and Tsunade's eyes widened as she recognized the technique. Orochimaru had become interested in the battle and had put his request of Tsunade on hold for the moment.

Kabuto's hands lit up with a glowing blue chakra aura. He smirked. "Now, let's see what I should hit first." He charged forward and lashed out in a arcing chop. Naruto leaned back avoiding the invisible blade and threw his left hand still gripping his kunai down while his right slid into a pouch on the back of his pants.

Kabuto had his right hand extended from the first failed attack but he still had his left available and he thrust forward. Naruto shifted to the side off balance and his hand hit the ground on the tips of his fingers pushing in before flattening his palm and flipping backwards catching Kabuto's counter slash in a scissor hold with his legs. Still on his right arm he twisted his torso sending the surprised Kabuto twisting off his feet and onto his back.

During the flip Kabuto's right arm dangled behind him and upon impact it slapped against his left shoulder before flopping off and coming to a rest on the ground. Kabuto quickly rose to his feet ignoring the wind getting knocked out of him and pushed off his knee to stand fully erect again. As Kabuto looked up he was surprised to find that Naruto had vanished. He looked around and noticed that Orochimaru was still interested in the fight but was looking at the space where Naruto had just been standing.

But Naruto was no longer there..

Suddenly he felt a pair of hands grab his calves and yank him down sinking into the earth. His acute senses noted that even though he was being drug underground the earth wasn't breaking apart like it should. Suddenly his brain clicked.

'_Genjutsu!'_

He brought his hands together in the release seal and screamed "KAIII!!!!!"

The illusion was dispelled and Kabuto dropped his hands to his sides as his vision revealed Naruto standing 4 feet away from him with a cocky smirk. Kabuto moved to attack him but suddenly he felt his knee give out. His left arm went completely dead and his hands lost their blue glow hanging limply. Even when his brain sent signals to his body the limbs wouldn't respond.

His eyes widened in realization why the boy was just standing there. "W-what the hell have you done to me!"

Naruto chuckled. "Well I didn't really do much of anything.. Heh for being such a hotshot medic ninja you sure are pretty stupid. It's not exactly a bright idea to make handseals when you've got chakra scalpels activated, even if it's for releasing a genjutsu.

Kabuto's eyes widened.

Naruto continued "But you forget that when I knocked you over you were still trying to take a shot at me so you didn't have to time to deactivate'em when you flopped your hands around or got to your feet either.. so you pretty much carved your arm and knee up too, good job."

Kabuto narrowed his eyes in fury. He dragged his one good leg forward and in that instant Naruto looked like he remembered something and snapped his fingers.. "Oh yeah since your in the spot I'll mention one other thing I set up."

He smirked ferally.

"Art is… a bang."

The explosive clay he'd inserted into the ground exploded underneath Kabuto sending him blasting backwards and rolling his body along the ground before smashing into a small bush destroying it.

Orochimaru stood in absolute shock. A boy, no older than Sasuke himself had just crushed Kabuto effortlessly. '_Who the hell is this brat!'_

Kabuto coughed up some blood as he tried to force himself to a sitting position. His hand feebly reached into his pouch and he pulled out a brown pill. He popped it in his mouth and swallowed chuckling weakly. "I'm not much good at Tai-jutsu but.."

Suddenly his eyes bugged out and he fell to his knees. "W-what's goin on. He doubled over before his entire body became rigid and he dropped to the ground on his side unable to move even a single muscle.

Naruto closed his eyes and scratched his nose. "Oh right yeah while you were in the gen-jutsu I switched your little foodpill pouch with those poison seeds, that should teach you to rely on outside stimulants so much.. And that ladies and gentlemen is what they call… checkmate."

He vanished in a blur of speed only to reappear next to the paralyzed man. "Don't worry that seed's only an ingredient in a much more complicated and lethal poison.. It'll just paralyze you for a day or so.."

He reached down and plucked off Kabuto's glasses he held them up examining them before dropping them in front of his face. Then he stomped down hard breaking the frame. He ground his foot into the crushed glasses snickering. "Yeah, that's right you're a lil bitch without your glasses aren't ya four eyes haha I bet you were on of the nerdy kids who got your lunch money stolen.. so since you and that blonde she hulk destroyed my lunch I'll just keep your foodpill pouch as a consolation prize."

He turned to walk away and twisted his gaze to Orochimaru. The pale faced man gulped. He turned to look around but to his horror Tsunade had already left, fleeing the town most likely. "Curse you, you infernal brat.. how dare you ruin my plans!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes." You have something I want old man." The pale faced Sannin growled. "You upstart I'll teach you some respect!" The sword of Kusanagi came up out of his throat and his neck extended launching out at Naruto.

The boy sidestepped and the strike passed him by. He then reached out with his left hand and gripped the extended neck yanking forward. Orochimaru's unprotected body was pulled forwards into a powerful side kick.

Orochimaru felt the bile in his chest rise and try to come out of his long throat but the vice grip Naruto had on it made that impossible. This caused him to gag and a compressed bubble of air went back down his chest and began to damage his organs. Naruto kicked him two more times before bringing his right elbow down on the top of the skinny man's spine.

He then finally released his hold of the man's neck and dropped his limp body to the ground. He then reached down and took hold of Orochimaru's left wrist, tore off the bandages, and raised his purple dead arm up. Orochimaru could barely make out what the child was doing until he felt it begin to slide off.

His eyes widened in realization. No wonder Kabuto had lost.

Naruto slid the Akatsuki ring off of the crippled man's finger and then let the arm drop to the ground. "You who have betrayed us are not worthy to wear this, I will see that it makes it back to the leader, he will know what to do with it."

Naruto then looked down at Orochimaru. "You didn't have any jutsu this time, to finish you like this would be an insult to all those who've trained me.. but mark my words traitor.. you will get what's coming to you one way or another and the next time we meet.. I will finish you."

Naruto walked a few steps away placing the ring in his pants pocket before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

Kyuubi sitting on a destroyed spire of Tanzaku Castle's remains allowed a smirk to travel across her naturally clear glossed lips. "Not bad Naruto.. for a human." She stood and instantly combusted into flames. The fire burned brighter and brighter until suddenly it snuffed out leaving a hissing trail of smoke.

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"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried out. He bolted upright as sweat drops sprinkled off him. his head was pounding, Suddenly a nurse came in to the room and a bright light was turned on. Lee cringed and tried to protect his sensitive eyes from the harsh adjustment. "Lee-san, are you alright?" the nurse questioned.

Rock lee slowly brought a bandaged arm up in a weak thumbs up. "Yeah, I um.. I am sorry for worrying you.. I only had a nightmare.. I'm sure it's nothing, thank you Sarasha-san."

The brown haired Nurse looked at him and smiled. "Get well soon Lee-san we need strong shinobi like you."

Lee nodded and slowly dropped his head onto the pillow. His mind traveled back to the battle. The first time he'd been utterly crushed. He had thought the beatings from Neji were defeats. Those were like slaps on the wrist compared to that shinobi.

'_That monster.. no. I refuse to think that about him.. he's only what his village made him.. Shinobi are tools.. that's the bottom line I suppose.. Who am I to judge, I stepped into that ring to fight you with firm belief that I could not lose, that I was going to show Gai-sensei and Sakura-chan my true power my nindo…_

_But.. now..'_

Lee closed his eyes and pulled the covers over his head.

And so morning came..

Lee was finally able to leave his room and Gai had come to personally escort him. they were walking around the Hospital talking about when he got better. The training would be upped. When he got better the missions would be harder. When he got better he would become a Chuunin. When he got better…_Perhaps hell may freeze over..' _Lee thought somberly.

Gai noticed the look on his students face but did not say anything. What could he. The truth was in front of them, no matter how unfair or how terrible it was… they could not deny it. But that didn't mean he was going to lay down and give up.

"Don't worry Lee Jiraiya-sama is going to get the legendary medic ninja Tsunade-sama to fix you right up." He smiled and flashed him a thumbs up. Lee smiled a little bit and lifted a weak fist and a soft accompanying "Yoshi."

Le then tuned to look at the boy leaning against the wall. "Neji-san." He acknowledged him. the Hyuuga boy shook his head. "Lee, Tenten said we should come to see you but she couldn't make it due to her mission with Jiraiya-sama."

Lee nodded.

"However." Neji continued. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it.. You were born destined to be a man. But not a shinobi. Only now.. at the end do you fully understand.. hard work, effort, desire.. all of it is meaningless if your opponent is fate."

Gai glared at his student. "That's enough Neji!"

The Hyuuga ignored him. "I'm not telling you this to be mean or to try to put you down. It's for your own good. You escaped this time with your life, but if you try to continue down this path you will find only pain and failure.. I offer you the same advice I gave to Hinata.. give up.. quit trying to play ninja and live your life while you still can."

He came off the wall and started walking past them when his shoulder was gripped by Gai.

"Neji." Gai said with a serious voice. "The next time I tell you to stop in that tone of voice you will stop.. or I will relieve you of your ability to speak.. Hyuuga or not... Do you understand me?"

Neji's eyes widened. The boy could feel the killing intent radiating from his teacher. The Hyuuga boy unable to speak under the intense killing intent merely nodded.

Gai tightened his grip on the Hyuuga's shoulder beginning to feet the bones compressing under his fingers.

"You and Tenten have never treated me with the respect of a Sensei and that's fine with me I don't care how you treat me.. mock me, make fun of me, but not Lee.. you will not mock the dream he's put his very soul into.. "

Gai released Neji who immediately left quickly exiting the hallway.

Lee looked at Gai and blinked in surprise. Gai placed his hand on Lee's head. "I can't stand it any more Lee.. I can't let them drag such a beautiful dream through the mud any longer."

Lee's smile widened across his face and he nodded. Just then a doctor came up to him. "Are you Maito Gai?" she asked him holding on a clipboard. Gai flashed her a nice guy smile and a thumbs up. "Correctamundo and this is my prize student Lee!"

She smiled and bowed down to his eye level and lightly punched him on the shoulder "Yes it actually concerns this little trooper. Though if we could speak in private I think it would be best." Gai nodded and Lee bowed with his crutch. "Alright excuse me, I'll be on the roof getting some air."

The adults nodded and walked into a room as Lee hobbled up the stairs and out the door into the warm sunlight. He smiled and breathed in the fresh air before he opened his eyes. He immediately turned around and tried to hobble back down when a voice stopped him.

"Stop."

Lee stopped and bowed his head slightly. "Good morning Uchiha-san."

Sasuke didn't turn around from his position at the railing. He stood with his hands at his sides, his back to Lee and the door.

"You.. have a lot of nerve showing your face here. After you stole my opponent it wasn't enough.. you had to take my power as well."

Lee turned around beginning to narrow his eyes but keeping in control.

Sasuke kept his back to him. "Rock Lee.. who the hell do you think you are.. You're nobody.. you don't even have a damn clan I'm an Uchiha.. that last Uchiha how dare you take my power from me when I was so close.. Don't you see how close I was to killing him. That seal.. the technique Kakashi taught me.. I could have done it but now.."

Lee shook his head as his fists tightened around his crutch. "Uchiha-san, the seal you're referring to was evil, it wasn't worth the price of the small amount of power.."

Sasuke snorted shifting his gaze to the Hokage memorial just barely visible form his vantage point on the roof. "Price? What price? Making me look a little weird? Since when does that become not worth it you loser!"

Lee snapped. "When it endangers Sakura-chan and all the rest of our comrades, when that thing was on you, you didn't care about any of us. You even bit Sakura-chan to drain her Chakra to fuel your own!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Since when have I ever considered any of you comrades.. You're nothing to me but stumbling blocks."

Lee took a step back then grit his teeth., "How can you say that. Sakura-chan has chosen you.. she wants more than anything to be accepted by you She is not like your other teammate who simply likes you for your looks and popularity.. and yet you say that even she.. one who would give her very life for you is nothing more than a tool to you.. What kind of man are you!"

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked up staring at the clouds. "I .. am an avenger. I have no time for friends or comrades."

Lee shook his head and threw down his crutch. He took a few steps forward and straightened out to his full height although it hurt him to do so. "I have heard of the night of the Uchiha massacre. I feel I must say however, I believe I know why you were spared."

Sasuke turned his head to look at him out of the corner of his eye.

Lee narrowed his eyes and continued. "Than man who killed all those people.. his very family.. and felt nothing.. he must have sensed it.."

Sasuke's black eye's began to change to a deep crimson as the pupil split and created 2 small black commas.

Lee finished. "You Uchiha Sasuke… are just like him! You're no better, in fact.. you might even be worse!"

Sasuke twisted around and vanished in a blur of speed before appearing next to lee and spinning under him lashing out with his foot. Lee's instincts kicked in and he jumped the first sweep and pulled his wrists in to block the second kick of the Konoha Senpu. The impact sent him skidding back across the roof. He felt a muscle in his back snap and he grimaced but managed to get back to his feet in time to see Sasuke finish his seals and a loud chirping resonated through the upper half of the Hospital.

Sasuke charged forward his Sharingan blazing. "For those words I will send you to hell you worthless piece of garbage!"

Lee charged forward and called out "Dynamic entry!"

Just as they were about to collide Kakashi fazed in between them and he gripped the ankle of lee and he wrist of Sasuke. Lee was flung to the side and Sasuke was sent smashing into the door to the stairwell. The Chidori blew through the door and took out a portion of the surrounding wall as well.

Lee was flung totally off the building with a sprained ankle.

Gai was listening to the results of Lee's diagnosis a floor down and by chance he was facing the window when the dropping form of Lee could be seen plummeting from the roof.

Gai's instincts took over and he sprung forward past the surprised doctor and out of the window shattering the glass. He flashed seals out then called

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

A huge cloud of smoke kicked up and Gai fell feet and arms first using his weights to help him drop faster to catch up with lee before he impacted. Gai took Lee into his arms and used his legs to cushion the fall landing on top of the 10 foot Turtle's head.

"Lee?!" he cried out. But the boy had fallen unconscious so there was nothing that could be done except take him back to the hospital room.

This time Gai didn't leave his side until he awoke and was able to recount what had happened.

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Kakashi yawned. Sasuke hadn't responded too well to his little lecture. But then again he didn't suppose it was a big deal just a little hotter version of him and Gai's stupid little rivalry. It would blow over soon enough. Of that he was sure.

As he was leaving the training ground his nose buried in his orange book he lifted his free hand in a saluting motion and said "Yo, I was just leaving, the training ground's all yours.."

Gai stopped and folded his arms glaring at Kakashi. The one eyed Jounin lazily stopped and turned around to face him. "So what seems to be the problem Gai? Hmm another of your stupid games? Eyy let's do Janken this time."

Gai shook his head. "Not this time Kakshi, actually I was wondering about your student Sasuke.. what kind of punishment would be fitting for a boy whon uses a A rank assassination jutsu on a injured fellow leaf comrade?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I talked with him about it.. so don't worry.. I assume Lee's fine anyway?"

Gai shook his head. "Talked.. you talked with him about it.. Kakashi that's grounds for execution.. and you TALKED with him about it!.. why am I not surprised.. though I wonder if it had been one of your other students if your punishment may have been a bit more severe. '

Kakashi narrowed his eye and turned a page in his book. "What are you implying?"

Gai unfolded his arms and made a fist smashing it into the air. "I'm not implying anything.. this is just more of your blatant favoritism!"

Kakshi laughed. "Oh really.. Mr. hidden lotus and 8 celestial gates.. you're really one to talk.."

Gai shook his head. "You're wrong about that Kakshi, yes it's true that I hold Lee more dear to me than either Tenten or Neji. He's more important to me and he's my favorite. However, as a professional Shiniobi and Sensei I offer Tenten and Neji the same opportunities I do to Lee."

Gai opened his fist and made a chopping motion. "That's the bottom line Kakashi.. Lee seeks out my instruction while the other two are embarrassed to be in the same room with me.. But you.. You favor Uchiha ok, fine no harm in preferences.. but when you allow that favoritism to control your actions that's the problem."

Kakashi closed his book and looked at Gai. "And you think you have a right to lecture me because.. ?"

Gai shook his head. "I didn't come here to lecture you Kakashi. I came here to make you atone.. let me ask you something Kakashi.. That fighting style Sasuke used, the speed, the timing, where did he learn it from? Where did he learn the movements for high speed combo's?"

Gai balled his left fist up. "You and that damn Uchiha leech took everything! Lee had nothing.. he wasn't even a natural genius at Tai-jutsu, he gained all of his skill through hard work and years of effort.. and you and the Uchiha come along and take that from him with not a word of thanks!"

"Lee may look similar to me but he's had it soo much harder than you or I could ever dream of.. we can't begin to fathom what it was like for him.. He has no parents.. No family no talent no friends.. nothing!"

Tears welled up in Gai's eyes. "And damn you Kakashi.. you and the rest of this entire village see us as nothing more than a joke. How many times will we be expected to turn away and pretend we can't hear your jeers, your laughing, your mocking, and yet when the time comes you depend on us as if we're comrades. Comrades aren't part time Kakashi!"

The masked Jounin rolled his eyes. "Is that what this is about, little Gai can't take the strain any more.. Your stupid little games, your ridiculous speeches about youth and those damn spandex suits.. You look like a Power Ranger.. you sport a bowl cut to make you look more like Bruce Lee I assume… and you have eyebrows the size of half your face… if you don't want to be a laughing stock then change your appearance and stop acting like such a incompetent fool."

Gai sighed. "You don't get it Kakashi.. This isn't about my damn eyebrows! This is about our feelings. So what if we look strange that doesn't give you the right to treat us like circus trash! And Lee.. he has been stripped of everything he has and that little brat tries to kill him?!"

Kakashi snorted. "Gai I feel bad for what happened to Lee but you can't honestly come here and expect to start pushing me around for my policies, the fact is Sasuke and I have the Sharingan.. And we're not going to just not use the ability to improve ourselves because it might make you feel bad."

Gai unballed his fists. "There's no point in further talking. I came here to reclaim Lee's honor. I demand that either you or your student apologize for the wrongs you've done to Lee."

Kakashi laughed and turned around to walk away. "Gai, go home."

Suddenly the earth was rocked by a tremor. Kakashi turned around to see the two leg warmers and weight belts embedded in the ground next to where Gai had thrown them.

The green glad man narrowed his eyes and took a fighting stance. "Then, I will reclaim his honor through your defeat."

Kakashi looked up at Gai and sighed before moving to the side with blinding speed. Kakashi was caught off guard how fast Gai could move without his weights. The punch had almost connected. Kakashi looked on in awe as the ground exploded outward from the hit. Kakashi immediately rolled to the side and drew a Kunai only to have it kicked from his hand the instant it came to rest in front of him. "You're serious!" Kakashi said surprised.

Gai looked at him with cold eyes. "Yes Kakashi I am.. If I fail to defeat you this time I will take my own life in shame of my inability to defend Lee's honor.. That is the Self rule this time."

Kakashi slipped up his head band and revealed his Sharingan just in time to avoid an arcing wheel kick that sent a burst of air into him.

He then jumped up as Gai appeared behind him delivering a downward chop. Flashing through a set of seals he called out **"Earth Style: Grand Pillars no Jutsu!"**

Instantly the ground shot up around him and formed pillars of rock separating them. Gai began smashing through the pillars with little to no difficulty. Kakashi meanwhile began working on a Gen-jutsu. Gai smashed through another set of pillars. Only to find the number wasn't decreasing at all. He jumped atop one of the pillars to get a better view of the battlefield when he noticed that all the pillars were perfectly proportioned even where he'd smashed through them.

Realizing it was an illusion he canceled it but pretended to still be caught inside of it.

Kakashi decided to end it quickly and flashed out the seals shouting:

"**Leaf Style: Fang Pursuit Jutsu!"**

His pack of Ninja dogs charged at the unaware Maito Gai. As Soon as the two larger ones ran up to grab his shoulders the spandex clad Jounin suddenly elbowed backwards directly into the dogs' noses and sent them sprawling back wards. He then avoided the smaller one kicking it away and throwing a Kunai at it before it landed to dispel it.

Kakashi realized Gai had only pretended to be caught in the Gen-jutsu and jumped back when he saw the Gai standing there flicker. The kicking Gai crashed into the ground where Kakashi had just been and he jumped up and spinning back kicked through a large boulder to get to Kakashi.

The Silver haired Jounin was nearly finished with his seals then Gai's fist embedded deep into his solar plexus. The Jounin was unable to form the full amount of seals and it looked like it had been a one hit knockout but the body poofed into a log. Gai was already preparing an explosive tag and slapped it on the Kawarimi log and threw it at Kakashi like a bomb. Kakashi outran the explosion and then dived underground. Gai dropped into stance and placed his fist an inch from the ground before delivering a one inch shockwave punch completely collapsing the tunnel Kakashi was traveling under.

A high pitch screeching could be heard before Gai jumped up to avoid Kakashi's Raikiri piecing out of the ground. The silver haired mans body shot up like a bullet out of the upturned earth and into mid air Gai gripped Kakashi's wrist and swung him around before twisting and flipping him onto his back. Gai then moved around and pulled up on the arm before kneeling down and fracturing the wrist and dislocating the shoulder.

Kakashi screamed in pain. He gripped a kunai with his other hand and slashed Gai on his cheek as the other man flipped away. Kakashi rose up cradling his fractured arm.

Gai formed his own seals and called out

"**Air style: Pressure Coffin no Jutsu!"**

The air around the training area began to condense and suddenly Kakashi dropped to his knee finding it difficult to stand let alone move.

Gai narrowed his eyes. "You and everyone else are always mocking Lee and I for our 'old fashioned' weight training but look at you know.. You can't even move in this weight but I on the other hand..."

Gai ran up to him and roundhouse kicked him in the ribs. Kakashi felt a few ribs crack. Then Gai began flashing out punch after punch crashing down on Kakashi until finally the Silver haired Jounin's Sharingan eye was so swollen it was unusable.

Gai finally backfisted him, sending Kakashi into the grassy earth. Gai looked down at him breathing heavily from exhaustion and released his air Jutsu. "Well you don't have to worry about that headband anymore Kakashi.. it seems I've helped you cover that eye of yours up naturally for awhile.." He bent down and reached into the barely conscious Jounin's pouch and pulled out the orange book. "I think taking this will probably be more damaging than the entire beating."

With that Gai limped over and knowing that he was too drained to pick up his weights decided to leave them there as he made his way off the field just as it started to rain leaving the evening cleaners to discover Kakashi.

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The council was outraged. The village was in turmoil. Left with no public figurehead the villagers were in a state of panic. The Shinobi were still trying to rebuild, the looters were still trying to take advantage of the instability. The threat of invasion was only be coming more and more real with each day.

And now Hatake Kakashi was in the Konoha hospital for injuries suffered during a battle with Maito Gai. There were too many inside jobs to allow Orochimaru acess to execute his surprise attack. The council had placed a special level of restrictive measures on the Shinobi until the loyalties of each had been thoroughly tested. Maito Gai had broken several rules and was under extreme scrutiny. Rock Lee was another matter altogether. Though Gai had been needed to maintain high level mission acceptance and thus was let off with a minor pay deduction and a strong probation the attack on the Uchiha had been much more dangerous. The last of the Uchiha was a village treasure for a failure of a ninja like that boy to endanger the life of the Uchiha had been a serious problem.

However, Uchiha Sasuke had instigated it. This left them unable to meet out a punishment fairly. There was a slight loophole though. The attack had come during Rock Lee and the sand ninja Gaara's match. This could lead some to suggest Rock Lee's involvement in the overall attack. Reports from the other Genin state the boy hindering the Uchiha in swiftly defeating Gaara once they had fought in the surrounding forest. The village needed a scapegoat to pin the timing of the attack on. Councilman Homura had suggested they kill two birds with one stone. This leads up to the meeting that was called with the strange stipulation that all Genin as well as Jounin were to attend.

Gai entered and took his place near the back of the Jounin. He couldn't help but feel his treatment of Kakashi may have been overboard. But when things concerned Lee he was always more sensitive. He sighed and focused in on who was there. To his surprise he could see the Genin in formal clothing. A murmur to the side from Kurenai and Asuma confirmed that the Genin were ordered to sit on this particular council decree as well.

Suddenly the main members rose signaling the silence of the surrounding assembly.

Homura took his position at the front of the table as the orator Samaeda came to the podium.  
"We of the council have reached a new and troubling decision concerning the future of one of our Shinobi's and their true loyalties."

He took a piece of paper from the second seat and confirmed that it bore the signatures of the entirety of the council before continuing. "As you are all aware of, the Hidden Sand Village was allied with Orochimaru in the invasion and it was during the match against their star player Sabakku no Gaara that the invasion was launched. It was this timing issue that baffled us. Why during this match.. what was it that set it apart from the others that Orochimaru chose to instigate his plan."

The assembled Jounin turned to one another to mouth silent questions.

Samaeda continued reading. "We have looked into all the different factors and we have found that Gaara had several matches prior to this particular instance. The key therefore, must have lied in the other player as well. The invasion occurred during the match between Gaara and Rock Lee. Furthermore, according to testimony from the other Genin present at the time of the final battle with Gaara, Uchiha Sasuke was deterred from immediately defeating him and was allowed further time to escape by Rock Lee's interference."

"The final piece of evidence is in the surprise attack at the hospital, according to testimony of the staff at the time Rock Lee attempted to assassinate Uchiha Sasuke further cementing his affiliation with Orochimaru."

Lee looked like he was going to cry as the Genin around him began looking at him in surprise. He shook his head furiously. "W-wait that's ridiculous I have not done anything wrong I was seriously injured fighting Gaara how can you say that I was working with him?!"

Samaeda looked at him furiously. "Young man you are in enough trouble as it is, this is a council meeting declaring our findings and decisions there is no place for you to defend yourself there will be a trial for that at a later date. Now I will finish and you had better not have an outburst like that again or you will be forcibly restrained."

He then turned the piece of paper over and began again "To continue We have decided that Rock Lee is young and moldable so usual punishment of execution for treason is a tad unreasonable. However, we can not afford to have a counter agent in range of any village proceedings. In order to facilitate the process of the rebuilding process his immediate removal has been decided. Rock Lee you have one last night in this village, tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M. You will be transported to the Konoha Correction Facility where you will remain until the date of your trial is decided. With the village in its current state it is estimated that the proceeding will require at least a year to make it down the list of backlogged cases."

Lee's eyes bugged out. "B-but this is not fair.. I have put everything I am into becoming a Shinobi..I do not understand why you are doinbg this to me.. I did not attackUchiha Sasuke I was attacked and merely tried ot defend myself.. please believe me!"

He turned to his teammate but Neji had his eyes closed and looked the other way. He heard Ino lightly gossiping. He turned to Sakura. "Please, Saukra-chan believe me I'm not-"

Sakura interrupted him. "Save your lies traitor, I knew something was wrong with you when you attacked Sasuke-kun… he could see through your little act and you thought you had to get rid of him.. Honestly, I hope you enjoy bath time in prison."

Lee looked down with a broken heart as 2 ANBU materialized next to him. "We will escort you back you your quarters and keep watch until the appointed departure time." Lee nodded dumbly. Samaeda walked forward. "Place your Headband on the table here Rock Lee thst band is worn only by official Shinobi and you are most certainly not among us."

Lee reached around his waist and pulled the headband off feeling the material slip through his fingertips as the metal band attached to it gently clanked upon contacting the table.

The meeting was then called to a close and left many Jounin and Genin with many unanswered questions.

Maito Gai was nowhere to be found.

Later that night..

Lee lay on his blanket using his second pair of clothes as a pillow. He sighed softly. "How did things get so messed up.. I only wanted to be a Shinobi and now.. I'm not even a citizen on Konoha, worse yet I will never even see Gai-sensei.. I wonder if when he returns from his mission he will send me a message."

Lee's soft murmuring was cut short when he heard a gentle rapping at his window. He tried to ignore it at first but finally it became annoying so he rose up and threw the blanket off and padded over on his bare feet.

He was completely taken off guard when he saw Gai standing there with a strained look on his face. Lee's eyes teared up and he threw the window open softly crying out "Gai-sensei."

Gai shook him surprising Lee. The boy looked up at the stern eyes of his teacher and feared that he may have come to yell at him for his betrayal. Lee shook his head.

"I know what they said sensei but I-" Lee was cut off when Gai entered the window and covered Lee's mouth.

"Be quiet Lee, we don't have time for this right now. Hurry and get that blanket. "Wrap everything you can fit in it"

Lee looked at him in surprise.

Gai just stared out the window with a wild look on his face. He bit his lip and looked around cautiously.

Lee grabbed his pictures and a few of his clothes though most were green jumpsuits. He threw the meager pile on the middle of his blanket then looked around for any specific items he might need on a hourney.

Gai looked at lee with a look of impatience. "Lee hurry we don't have time for this, we need every second we can get." Lee nodded and then grabbed his styling gel to keep his hairstyle and some shuriken and tossed them into the bay before tying it up and sticking it on the end of his wooden Boken stick. Gai flashed through some seals and a stone turtle appeared and opened its mouth.

Gai took the stick and threw it in the turtle mouth along with all the food in Lee's cabinets. Lee went to put on his leg warmers but Gai stopped him. "No weights, we need full speed for this put the weights in the mouth."

Lee complied.

Gai then dessumoned the turtle and he went to the window. And told lee to get on his back. Lee got on and held on tight. "Where are we going Gai-sensei? I have to leave for the correction facility in the morning.."

Gai shook his head. "No, you're not going there Lee. We're leaving, and we're not coming back."

With that he blasted off.

Gai had placed a Genjutsu on the ANBU watching him but when they switched shifts if the new ANBU came in to check on them the shadow clone and henge combination he'd left in Lee's bed may or may not fool them. He wasn't a master of illusionary arts but he knew he'd just have to hope they assumed they were simply preventing him from leaving.

If they didn't check then they would have till morning to get out of tracking distance. If then did then they might be in for a fight. Either way now that they were missing ninja their life was about to get a lot more complicated.

"Lee I'm not going to lie." Gai stated as he blasted straight up the wall to Konoha using chakra to stay connected to it and moving at speeds that eyes less than the Byakugan or Sharingan couldn't register. "Life is going to be hard for awhile, but I promise you I will make it my life's goal to help you, you are already a splendid Shinobi but I will do everything I can to help you become even better. I don't know what the future holds for us but I will not abandon you to fate.. Those fools in the council have cut the last string.. The flames of youth have been snuffed out in this place.. We will go to a place where we will be respected, we will be equal, we will be happy and our flame will burn once again."

Lee looked thoughtful for a bit then looked up and smiled at Gai. "I'd like that Gai-sensei" he said softly crying. He had enough foresight to know not to shout out like usual during their run. He did, however notice the incredible feat of Gai carrying him on his back and still moving at a blinding speed nonstop until the point he was lulled to sleep by the steady motion.

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A long smirk spread across his sharp features as amusement flickered in his dark eyes. "Well, it survived.. but barely. The damage is extensive."

His dark haired companion sighed. "Just a few years ago it was in the height of it's prime.. look at it now."

The first speaker suddenly moved his dark eyes to the left as if catching sight of some invisible motion and raised what would be an eyebrow if he had any. "Well, what's this.. Dissention in the ranks it seems."

The other closed his eyes and bowed his head further concealing his lower face under the long collar of his cloak. "It never ceases to amaze me how foolish this village can be.. once again they have lost another irreplaceable piece. Orochimaru, Myself, Naruto-san, and now the Green Beasts. The man shook his head. "And soon it seems my foolish brother will leave them for the snake.. This village will not stand another decade. With or without our assistance it will crumble."

The blue man laughed softly. "Well, in any case it seems that Orochimaru is no longer here so there's no reason for us to interfere, we should report this to the leader at once."

His shorter partner nodded with an emotionless look on his face. "However, before we do I need to expend some chakra or the compression will prevent me from accessing it for movement correctly."

The tall man grinned revealing rows of sharp feral teeth and looked at his partner knowingly. "The one track minded fool is going in a straight line, it will take a hunter ninja team less than a day to discern their location.."

He lightly fingered the strapped hilt of his sword. "You know a few techniques for creating false patterns and paths to mislead trackers don't you?"

His emotionless comrade said in his customary monotone. "Yes"

The man released his hold on the hilt of his sword and strapped a different set of treads on his sandals looking in the direction of the forest before grinning and slapping his friend on the back. "Well let's go have some fun."

Note: ok the next installment of Bloody Pawprints is done. Tsunade is introduced and Lee and Gai go AWOL. Now the Naruto leaves is done azillion times but I haven't seen Lee and Gai leave done. I got to thinking. Lee is a really cool character but he's kinda become filler. And yet he has such a dynamic character that I had to have him in the story. Also Lee and Gai take a lot of shit. More so then Naruto almost. And b/cthey grin and bear it or pretend like they don't hear it we all kinda assume it's normal and don't pay attention. But they're human's too and there's only so much a guy can take. Especially when Kakashi steals the only thing Lee's got goin forem. Anyway. That's where all this came from.

In the next chapter. We see Jiraiya and Ten Ten's progress in tracking Tsunade cuz remember she left Tanzaku town using Naruto's fight as a distraction. Also important to remember that Orochimaru never got to offer to bring back her loved ones cuz he was interrupted b4 he could.

Well lotsa stuff coming but b4 that…

The next chap of Holowed Space. Hopefully won't be as long as last one but it depends on how much I get inspired to write.


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